Recruiting in CAS is a Pipeline, Not a Panic Button

Read Time: 3:35 minutes

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One of the principles that stuck with me recently came from a presentation in The Kick C@$ Community called The Leadership Mindset. It was this: Leaders protect the right of good staff to work with good staff.

Simple. True. And honestly? It hit me hard.

That idea got me thinking about the connection between leadership, recruiting, and culture. Two recent Kick C@$ Community sessions brought a new layer of insight to the table.

Both The Leadership Mindset and Michael Ly's How to Close the Trust Gap and Scale Your Firm strongly advocated treating recruiting like a sales pipeline. That's not just a clever analogy—it's a mindset shift that could change the way many CAS firms approach their talent strategy.

Upcoming Events in The Kick C@$ Community

• Finding Clients on Upwork and Fiverr with Tailor Hartman (firm owner) on April 18th at 1 PM CST

• How to Stop Spending Money on Job Ads That Aren’t Attracting the Right Applicants with Alex McFarland (accounting recruiting guru) on April 21st at 12 PM CST

• Built to CASh out – How to build a Scalable, Valuable, Exit-Ready Firm with Daniel Talbott (firm owner and accounting M&A guru) on April 28th at 12 PM CST

• The Advisory Evolution: From Compliance to Holistic Leadership with Jacob Schroeder and Obed Maurice (firm owners) on May 6th at 12 PM CST

The Trap of "We Can't Let Them Go"

I've been there. At one of the public accounting firms I worked for, I remember hearing from multiple people in exit interviews (and hallway conversations) that the reason they were leaving wasn't the workload or the pay—it was their manager.

I brought it up with our managing partner at the time. I figured this is something we can fix. Culture is people, and if someone creates a toxic or unproductive environment, we owe it to the team to address it.

But the partner didn't want to deal with it—not because they didn't care, but because they were terrified they wouldn't be able to replace the person. This manager had been around a long time, knew the clients, and got the work done, so they just let the problem linger.

And here's the punchline: every time we didn't address it, more good people left.

Protecting the Right of Good People to Work With Good People

That quote is worth repeating because this isn't about managing performance—it's about protecting your culture. And if you're not recruiting constantly, you'll feel trapped when something needs to change.

The scarcity of accounting talent is real. We all know that. But if your only recruiting strategy is to panic-post a job on Indeed when someone quits, you're already playing catch-up.

And worse? You might start making culture-compromising decisions to keep the boat afloat.

This is why the recruiting pipeline idea is so powerful.

Michael Ly broke it down beautifully in his session. Like your client pipeline, you should always build relationships, have conversations, and nurture potential hires — even if you don't have an open seat right now.

"Why Would You Interview People When You're Not Hiring?"

I used to think that, too.

Years ago, one of my engineering clients had this process of constantly interviewing people, even when they didn't have a single open position.

At the time, I thought they were nuts. Why waste everyone's time?

But now, I get it.

They were playing the long game. And when an opening did pop up, they weren't starting from zero. They had people—warm leads—qualified and aligned candidates who were already familiar with the company and excited to come on board.

It was more like dating than hiring. You're not proposing marriage in the first interview. You're just building a relationship and seeing if the chemistry is there.

It Only Works If the Process Works

If you adopt this mindset, your recruiting process needs to be dialed.

That's why I'm excited we've got a recruiting expert joining The Kick C@$ Community on April 21st for a session called How to Stop Spending Money on Job Ads That Aren't Attracting the Right Applicants because there's no point in always recruiting if your process is attracting the wrong people, wasting your time, or damaging your brand.

You need a system that filters for alignment — not just technical skills.

It should be:

• Easy to manage

• Clear about what your firm stands for

• Designed to create great candidate experiences, even if you don't make a hire

This process doesn't just help you fill roles — it becomes part of how you sell your firm to the talent that makes your culture thrive.

Let's Stop Waiting for It to Break

Stop waiting for it to break before you fix it.

Start building your recruiting pipeline now. Get those processes in place. Protect your culture proactively. The cost of waiting isn't just a delay in hiring—it's losing the good people you already have.

Let's talk more about it on April 21st.

Thanks for reading, Luke Templin!

P.S. There are four ways I can help you grow your CAS offerings when you are ready:

1. Join my How to Start Offering Advisory Services Cohort.

2. Cannot wait until it starts? Check out the pre-recorded version here.

3. Join The Kick C@$ Community to grow your CAS offering alongside others doing the same.

4. Automated white-labeled financial digests for your clients with FinDaily.io