So, if I had a Rust job opening...

There is a steady stream of posts about how hard it is to find Rust jobs, especially for those with little or no paid Rust experience. I'm currently in the prototype phase of a new project with a core component written in Rust. I estimate the effort to be around 500 - 600 hours and it would need someone who has pretty good Rust skills. I could structure it as a paid internship, part-time contract stretched out for half a year, or a shorter but full-time contract. For me it makes no difference as the money coming out of my pocket will be the same.

But what do you think would be the best way to structure this from the job seeker's perspective? What would increase your chances for future Rust jobs? Or do you think it won't matter?

Background to this question is that I do a lot of Unity/C# work and in that space, internships are very important. Many studios currently look for paid internship experience in their candidates. I recently hired someone for a two month full-time contract and they asked me to send them a letter saying it was an internship because they felt it was more valuable to them that way.