How to break into ED nursing with 1.5 years of Med-Surg?

Hi Y'all,

I have been feeling rather defeated in applying for internal transfers at my hospital from Med Surg to the ED. For context, I have always wanted to work in the ED after being a float pool CNA at my previous hospital, where I was floated consistently to the ED more than anywhere else. I absolutely loved it. Fast forward to moving out of state and starting my nursing career at a new hospital doing med-surg for 1.5 years, I applied for three different "transition into practice" programs for nurses with at least 1 year of nursing experience looking to transition to the emergency department. I had scheduled interviews for each one, but every single interview was cancelled due to the hiring manager already hiring someone who had interviewed earlier.

At this point, I figured I might as well try applying for the standard ED RN job posts I see (again - would be an internal transfer), but the requirement of "1 year of ED nursing experience" is making me hesitate. But how is one supposed to get that 1 year of ED nursing experience if my current hospital is never willing to train nurses from other specialties? It feels like you have to either get an ED job right after graduating nursing school or you have to leave your current hospital to get hired as an ED nurse elsewhere. Am I correct in thinking this way? What do I have to do to stand out (besides having BLS, ACLS, PALS, NIHSS certs) so that a hiring manager is willing to take a chance on folks like myself? I would have thought an internal transfer with a med-surg background (as well as an ADN, Master's, Bachelor of Arts, mid-30s) would have been way more appealing from a training perspective than a new grad in their 20s.

I am hungry for the opportunity and I guess I am wondering how to best go about this situation.