Client story · Partner since 2021One recruiting portal across every system, with AI in the loop
CFGI is a Boston-based financial services firm, advising clients on accounting, finance and tax from offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Since 2021, SEAD has grown CFGI's recruiting from an Excel process into a portal of its own: one place across LinkedIn, Lever and Retain, where AI ranks applicants, points candidates to the right role and prepares recruiters for every conversation. Six chapters follow.
It started with an Excel process
In November 2021, CFGI's recruiting ran on an Excel process, with candidates, roles and outcomes kept by hand beside the tools the team already used. SEAD began with a trial, and the first piece of work was analyzing that process: what the recruiting team tracked, what it needed to see, and where the hours went.
The analysis became a few dashboards. The dashboards made recruiting visible by source and by role, and the work grew from there. CFGI became a client in 2022, and SEAD connected every system the team recruits through into one portal, a Co-Wright custom application that SEAD runs and keeps building.
CFGI did not need another firm sending resumes. It needed a recruiting engine of its own. We started by analyzing an Excel process, turned it into a few dashboards, and grew it into one portal across LinkedIn, Lever and Retain. We are system agnostic: Lever is less common than a Salesforce or a HubSpot, and we maintain it to the same standard as every other system we connect. When AI matured, we brought it in. All of it costs CFGI less than a traditional recruiting firm.
Every system, one standard
CFGI recruits across three systems: LinkedIn, where candidates are found; Lever, its applicant tracking system; and Retain, its resourcing system. Lever is less common than the CRMs most firms run, and SEAD keeps that connection to the same standard as any other, the way it keeps LinkedIn and Retain.
All three meet in one portal, kept current, watched by SEAD's own checks, and written back to Lever, where the recruiting team works.
- LinkedInwhere candidates are foundsearched and reached out to
- LeverCFGI's applicant tracking systemread and written back
- RetainCFGI's resourcing systemread
Every connection, the same standard
- Held to one standard, whichever the system
- Kept current as each system changes
- Watched by SEAD's own checks and alerts
- Inside the SOC 2 Type II audited platform
Candidate data stays in CFGI's portal, with access set by role on the same SOC 2 Type II audited platform as every SEAD system: how Co-Wright handles security and permissions. How SEAD approaches work like this is in connecting systems.
Finding candidates where they are
Recruiters set the searches. The portal finds matching candidates on LinkedIn, scores each against the role, and helps recruiters connect and follow up, with every connection, message and reply tracked against the role it was for. It is SEAD's recruiting workflow, run for one firm.
The automation monitor shows it working: where sourced candidates stand, connections and messages over time, and connection and response rates by role.
CFGI's dashboards run on Co-Wright Intelligence, SEAD's own AI-enabled dashboarding.
The sourcing automation monitor, redrawn in Co-Wright Intelligence: sourced candidates by status, connection and message trends, and connection and response rates by role.
AI that ranks, routes and prepares
When AI matured, SEAD brought it into CFGI's process. Each application in Lever is read against the role's requirements, sorted into critical, important and preferred, and given a fit score from 1, the best fit, to 5. The score comes with its reasons: which requirements were met, on what evidence, and what is missing.
If a candidate looks a better fit for another open role, the recruiter is asked to reach out about it. For every candidate the recruiter also gets screening questions written for that candidate and that role, and a clear view of who fits best, so each conversation starts prepared.
A better fit for another role
The recruiter is asked to reach out about it
The AI application monitor puts it on one screen: applications by stage, how many the AI has reviewed, fit scores, and the detail behind each. Open an application to see its review. Why SEAD puts AI to work this way is in our perspective on AI.
The AI application monitor, redrawn in Co-Wright Intelligence: applications by stage, AI review coverage, fit scores and days since last contact. Open an application for its review, requirement by requirement, with its screening questions.
More than a stack of resumes
A traditional recruiting firm sends relevant resumes for each open role, and that is the service. CFGI gets the candidates too, and everything around them.
| What CFGI gets | Traditional recruiting firmthe usual placement model | SEADthe portal and the team behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Relevant candidates for each open role | ||
| A hiring pipeline CFGI owns and sees end to end | ||
| One portal across LinkedIn, Lever and Retain | ||
| Candidates ranked with reasons, and pointed to the right role | ||
| Screening questions for each candidate | ||
| Analytics by source, role and recruiter | ||
| Hosting, software and AI costs included | ||
| Unlimited integrations | ||
| Technical support | ||
| A team that keeps innovating, bringing in AI as it matured |
All of it costs CFGI less than a traditional firm. How SEAD prices an engagement, set against the alternatives, is in the comparison.
A partner that keeps moving
The portal has grown the way CFGI's recruiting has: dashboards first, then every system in one place, then AI as it matured. SEAD keeps adding to it, so CFGI stays at the forefront of recruiting technology at an efficient cost.
- 012021Analysis and dashboards
A trial that began with analyzing an Excel process
Recruiting dashboards - 022022One portal
LinkedIn and Lever connected in one portal
LinkedIn sourcing and outreachLever, read and written back - 032024AI ranking
AI scores sourced candidates, and Retain joins the portal
AI fit scoresRetain resourcing data - 042026AI application review
Applications read, ranked and prepared for
Screening questionsRight-role recommendations
That is SEAD's Scale phase: one system, extended as the business asks more of it, without starting again.
SEAD has become a key partner in how we recruit at CFGI. Their platform gives us a single, unified environment for sourcing, scoring, and managing candidate data, turning what used to be a manual, fragmented process into a data-driven recruiting engine. Through Co-Wright and its AI engine, we can intelligently match candidates to roles, message and engage directly within the portal, and seamlessly pass information into our CRM while tracking every step of the funnel. At a firm that serves thousands of clients globally from 28 offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, SEAD has helped us lower cost-per-hire, increase placement efficiency, and fully own our recruiting process with real-time visibility and actionable analytics.
Bring your recruiting into one place
At CFGI, recruiting runs through one portal, across every system, with AI that ranks, routes and prepares. The preview of your portal is built and shown by engineers, not a sales script.
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