CASH FLOW OR CANDIDATE FLOW.

Why one kills slowly, and the other can kill overnight.

Every recruitment leader knows the two monsters lurking in the background: not enough candidates, and not enough cash. But which is the real existential threat? Which one should keep you up at night?

Let’s be clear—candidate flow matters. No pipeline, no placements. But a lack of candidates is a commercial problem. It’s solvable. You tweak your sourcing strategy, rework your proposition, pump some budget into brand or reach. It’s painful, but it’s fixable.

Cash flow, on the other hand, is unforgiving. You don’t get 30 days to solve it. You miss payroll, you lose your team. You miss a VAT deadline, you rack up penalties. Your best biller walks out because commission wasn’t paid on time—and suddenly your short-term issue becomes a long-term spiral.

Candidate flow starves the business gradually. Cash flow can kill it dead in a week.

The trouble is, many founders focus obsessively on top-line growth—more clients, more roles, more talent. But if you don’t have cash discipline—credit control, cost management, proper forecasting—you’re walking a tightrope with no net.

Even booming businesses can go bust if payment terms stretch, invoices go unpaid, or growth outpaces capital. Recruitment is a rollercoaster. Cash is your seatbelt.

The smart firms treat both seriously—but they know which one bites harder. You can survive a bad quarter for candidate supply. You won’t survive running out of cash.

So if you’re running a recruitment business, ask yourself: are you chasing placements, or protecting the engine that makes them possible? Because in the end, candidate flow feeds your future—but cash flow keeps the lights on.