You can pick up React in a month. Same goes for any other popular JS framework. If you are applying for jobs where they ask you about specifics framework details, you are applying to the wrong places.
Not to say any of it is impossible to learn, but it does take more time. It's a lot more complex than jquery because of the shadow DOM and all the timing issues arising from that vs working with real HTML nodes.
All else being equal, I'd definitely choose the candidate with direct React experience who already understands the challenges around that abstraction vs direct DOM manipulation.