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The perfect person has sold the exact product.
To the exact customer.
At the exact deal size.
For the exact number of years.
They already know the buyers.
They use your CRM.
They have managed the same size team.
And they are available within your salary band.
There is only one problem.
That person may not exist.
Or they may exist and have no reason to move.
Sometimes this is essential.
Often it is a shortcut.
If the real need is understanding school procurement, say that.
If the real need is selling complex SaaS, say that.
If the real need is credibility with university leaders, say that.
A clear capability is easier to assess than an arbitrary number of years in a sector.
A network sounds attractive because it appears to promise immediate pipeline.
But contacts are not transferable assets in the way a CRM list is.
Buyers move.
Relationships belong to people, not employers.
The better requirement may be evidence of creating pipeline and building senior relationships in a relevant market.
If someone can run a disciplined pipeline in Salesforce, they can learn HubSpot.
And the reverse.
Specific software experience matters when the role is deeply technical or operational.
For most sales roles, it should sit well below commercial judgement, process and results.
Titles vary wildly across startups and established companies.
One Account Executive may own a larger number than another company's Sales Manager.
One Head of Sales may be a player coach with three people.
Another may run an international team.
Write the scope.
Do not hire the label.
Ask why the role needs one.
If there is a legal, technical or professional reason, keep it.
If it has been copied from an old template, remove it.
Commercial performance is not automatically predicted by having a degree.
Unnecessary education requirements also narrow the pool of people who reached sales through different routes.
There are good reasons for some teams to work together in person.
There are also job descriptions that say three days in the office because that is simply the current policy.
Be clear.
If salespeople need to spend significant time with customers, an office rule may be less relevant than travel coverage.
Every location rule changes who can apply.
Make sure it earns its place.
A useful EdTech sales job description should make the job easier to understand.
Who is the customer?
What is being sold?
What is the typical contract value?
How long is the sales cycle?
Is the role new business, account growth or both?
Who creates pipeline?
What target will the person own?
What experience is genuinely essential?
What can be learned?
What is the salary?
What does flexible working mean in practice?
Candidates can make much better decisions when those questions are answered.
Do not create twelve essentials and then tell the recruiter you are flexible on half of them.
That means they were never essential.
Keep the essential list short.
Use desirable for things that would help but can be learned.
Then assess candidates against outcomes rather than counting matching keywords.
This is the important point.
Removing unnecessary requirements is not about making the role easier.
It is about putting the bar in the right place.
You can be demanding about performance, judgement, learning ability, customer skill and leadership while being much more flexible about exact career history.
That is how you widen access without weakening the hire.
RecruitHer helps EdTech companies turn long wish lists into commercial briefs that the market can actually respond to.
Common examples include arbitrary years of EdTech experience, an existing network, one specific CRM, the exact previous title, a degree without a job reason and office rules that are not tied to the work.
Explain the customer, product, contract value, sales cycle, pipeline ownership, target, genuine essential experience, salary and what flexible working means in practice.
No. You can keep a high bar for performance, judgement, learning ability and customer skill while being more flexible about the route a candidate took to build those capabilities.
Emilia Kruszewska is an EdTech recruiter and headhunter at RecruitHer, working with EdTech companies on commercial and leadership hiring.
