There are lots of people curious about coding Rust in production, and most of them consider themselves competent to write it. But that is not what you look for when hiring. Or, it shouldn't be.
For an analogy, I wouldn't hire a pilot that isn't interested in other planes than what's on their license. What if I want to operate some new models?
Unless I'm looking for someone for a truly specialised role, I would avoid people that stick to only one thing for their entire careers.
For hiring, what you should look for, first and foremost, is competence. Curiosity is not a substitute.
- they’re senior level in another language and have at least one non-trivia project in Rust (need not be professional)
- Applying for a junior position and thus will have access to mentorship
I don’t see what the problem is. Rust isn’t Haskell: while there’s a few new things, most imperative programming experience will translate.