Many recent graduates are still struggling to find work, especially in the healthcare field. More and more insured patients are flooding healthcare facilities as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) takes effect, and as a result, there’s an increasing demand for experienced nurses and healthcare professionals. However, there seems to be little room for inexperienced RNs and new grads, and understandably so—with such a sudden influx of demand, there is little time for training. Hospitals need nurses who can start seeing patients upon hire.

Still, new grads and recently certified RNs should not be passed on in the rush. Doing so can have a number of negative repercussions in the future of healthcare, and at the very least, skipping out on new grads could result in leaving a valuable resource untapped.

“If healthcare facilities are willing to take the time to train new RNs, they can get really great people who could potentially bring new energy into an organization,” says Jennifer Nyman, a Director in The Execu|Search Group’s Health Services division. “Many of our clients want experienced nurses, but if they’re willing to train a bit and take a bet on new nurses, it could really benefit them. New grads are hungry and motivated and ready to launch their careers.”

Should organizations refuse to give these grads a chance and rely solely on RNs with a specific amount of experience, there won’t be many new professionals to fill current nurses’ shoes once they retire.  After all, if nobody will hire them without prior experience, how will we eventually train the new force of healthcare professionals for the future? If current hiring trends remain the same over the next few years, the healthcare field will be leaving itself a large gap of unqualified, inexperienced RNs to take the current nurses’ places. This can easily be avoided by taking on new RNs and keeping them up-to-date and trained through the years.

Though retirement is a long way off for many of today’s nurses, if organizations continue to hire only those with experience, healthcare providers may see problems arise in the shorter term: with the high need for experienced nurses, there will eventually be a shortage as each finds work, and many positions will still remain unfilled. There is no better time than now, when there is such high demand, to get new grads into the workforce and sharpen their skills alongside their more experienced colleagues.

A great way to do this is to offer recent grads temporary roles and hire them on a temp-to-perm basis. This will not only allow recent grads to build their resume and experience base, but will also allow organizations to evaluate their skills and learning potential before they make a permanent hiring decision. Of course, this means that healthcare facilities will need to be flexible and offer entry-level work regardless, but doing so on a temporary basis might be more cost-efficient than hiring new grads for permanent roles fresh out of school.