New nurse 1.5 year post grad looking for job in acute care setting how to start without residency program?

Depending on your background, either moving laterally within your hospital (med/surg, Tele, to an acute specialty like ER/ICU) may still require training.

If you don't think you will absorb anything from the training, I can almost guarantee that you will absorb or learn at least 5 new things. Most of these programs allow you to get certified in the necessary fields such as Med/Surg - most need BLS/ALS/NIHSS. While ER needs BLS/ACLS/PALS/ENPC/TNCC/NRP/NIHSS give or take a few depending on the hospital.

My residency was only 4-6 weeks, fully paid, and even got time to work on the required online trainings set by the hospital education team.
(I was a new graduate and had nurses with 5-10yrs experience with OR/ICU/Med-Surg training with me.)