We connect talent with opportunity.

Retained Search, Executive Coaching, & Talent Advisory

Our Services

Retained Search

Specializing in placing senior-level executives and commercial roles across industries, our expertise spans both individual contributor and leadership positions within fast-growing private equity, venture-backed, public, and private companies.

Talent Advisory

Corporate services, including Executive Coaching, Team Coaching, Internal Career Pathing & Outplacement, designed to optimize talent and drive employee engagement & retention.

Executive Coaching

Individualized coaching engagements for professionals of all levels tailored to enhance leadership skills, navigate challenges and achieve professional goals.

CFW Careers is a talent advisory firm. For employers, we address all aspects of the talent continuum—from hiring to retaining, engaging and transitioning. For individuals, we seek to develop and optimize professional potential.

What makes us different?

  • What do you specialize in? We specialize in placing top-tier talent  across -C suite, VP Suite and  Sales, Account Management, Marketing, Customer Success, and Revenue Operations functions. Our clients range from fast-growing startups to established companies, including those backed by private equity, venture capital, and publicly traded organizations. We focus on driving revenue growth by matching businesses with leaders who can make a strategic impact and thrive in dynamic environments.

    What is your fee structure? We work on a retained basis and charge 26% of the projected salary, billed in thirds:

    -one third due within 10 days of contract signing date (nonrefundable)

    -one third due within 10 days of an accepted offer

    -one third due within 30 days of the start date

    Our model allows us to be selective around the searches we manage, maintaining a high-touch approach that leads to increased retention and a positive candidate experience, which is reflected positively on our client's employer brand.

  • What is CFW Careers Talent Advisory? Over the past 50+ years our firm has served as a trusted advisor to corporate clients ranging from earlier stage businesses to Fortune 500s. Offering both recruiting and coaching expertise, we work with HR leaders, hiring managers and executives to address challenges and opportunities around attracting, hiring, developing and retaining talent.

    What are examples of recent engagements? Providing onboarding and coaching to a 4-person executive leadership team of an earlier stage business moving toward Series # funding; designing and delivering a 6-month team coaching engagement for a global non-profit; conducting a 6-month transition coaching program for a senior HR executive.

  • What distinguishes CFW Careers Executive Coaching? That starts with the the coaches themselves! Rachel Fagnant-Fassler and Cynnie King both bring significant business experience, academic pedigree and executive coaching credentialing. While they have their own coaching style, individual strengths and interests, they embrace a similar coaching philosophy, aligned with ICF coaching best practices.

    What does a typical executive coaching engagement look like? It starts with an intake session with the individual and any other stakeholders, identifying potential coaching needs, issues and opportunities. Typically, that is followed by some form of assessment, eliciting helpful perspective and context. Contracting establishes goals and benchmarks. Throughout the coaching engagement, there’s a focus on growth & integration. With closure, we identify agreed upon action steps to achieve sustainable results.

Recent Content

Featured
5 Ways to be a Terrible Manager
5 Ways to be a Terrible Manager

Once in a while, we look back and find that advice we doled out years ago can feel even more relevant today; hence, the throwback blog post. Recently, upon witnessing some intense red flags in a management approach, I was reminded of this gem, which takes a reverse psychology approach to catalyzing insight for managers: What might you be doing wrong? And how can you take meaningful lessons from the absolute worst example of what a manager can be? Read on for five key ways to be an absolutely terrible, horrible, no good, very bad manager.

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5 Questions to Ask Your Future Colleagues
5 Questions to Ask Your Future Colleagues

Are you gearing up to join a new team? 

At CFW Careers, we believe that fostering strong connections with your future colleagues is essential for success in any role. Whether you're preparing for an upcoming interview or planning to integrate into a new team, asking the right questions can help you gain valuable insights into team dynamics, company culture, and role expectations.

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5 Key Lessons in the Pursuit of Continuous Learning
5 Key Lessons in the Pursuit of Continuous Learning

My grandfather was a jack-of-all-trades — a farmer, woodworker, horse breeder/trainer, and an all-around hobbyist. His career didn't fit neatly into any one category because he was always learning something new. I remember doing my high school geometry homework at his kitchen table when he peeked over my shoulder and asked, "How are you calculating those angles?" After I showed him, he said, "Follow me." Seeing an opportunity, he brought me into his woodworking shop to look at a partially built horse-drawn snow sleigh.

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Don’t Be Me: Seven Commonly Made Mistakes When Giving Feedback
Don’t Be Me: Seven Commonly Made Mistakes When Giving Feedback

Through the years, James O’Donnell, co-founder of Integrev, a technology consulting firm, has been our candidate, our client and an advisor to our firm. We’ve not only represented and served him, we’ve learned from him, most of all because he not only knew a lot (about business, about management, about leadership), but, perhaps most importantly, he knew what he didn’t know and shared that growth mindset with us. Here, his lessons learned about the importance of (the right kind of) feedback.

Read More →

What our clients say about us…

  • “I would definitely work with CFW again for future professional development programs. I had a number of managers—including those who didn’t even participate in the training!—tell me that the take-aways were perfect. CFW’s training programs are easily implemented across all departments, and our team is already putting what they learned to use.”

    -Chris Pini Former SVP Sales and Business Development, Money-Media

  • “CFW is a fantastic recruitment firm! [The CFW] team has helped us hire star performers and have put forward a number of high quality candidates for roles in my team. They have invested lots of time getting to know our company culture and make sure to have a thorough understanding of what we’re looking for in every role. [They are] attentive, highly dedicated and a delight to work with!”

    -Daniel Garibay, Former Regional B2B Sales Director, The Financial Times

  • “From the get-go, the whole team was deeply interested in understanding our needs, and were committed to finding the right fit. This was a hard search…the CFW team was tenacious, insightful, and continuously took feedback well as they evolved the search. In the end, they found us the perfect candidate, and we couldn’t be happier with the fit, or our search partner.”

    -Matt Deitch, Managing Partner, Southworth Development

  • “CFW has always stood apart from other recruiting firms…Not only did CFW help introduce us to the right candidates, they advised us on how to develop the right interview process to help us meet our goals of mitigating unconscious bias and building a diverse workforce. Ultimately this led to developing a stronger team with high achievement, high satisfaction, and high retention rates over many years. They [CFW] are also truly one of the most ethical and enjoyable teams to work with.”

    David Iankelevich, Former General Manager, North America, Sellics

  • “Such a good experience, great. CFW really did for us what we want to do for our clients. They made a painful, complicated process much less painful. It really helped to have hiring templates and advice to help with every part of the search process. And CFW helped us understand the objective of every stage of the process — why it was important.”

    David Busis, Managing Director and Head of Product, 7Sage

  • “Working with CFW was a breath of fresh air. They had a well-connected network with really diverse and quality talent. The team really gets involved and embedded far beyond the norm.”

    Nathalie Rodriguez, Former Talent Lead, Custora

  • “By using CFW’s onboarding & coaching, it really feels like having someone in your corner to help you establish yourself in your new role, put the best foot forward and make meaningful impact.”

    -Matthew Keller, Former Head of Marketing, 7Sage

  • “I couldn’t have been more pleased with the CFW Careers Onboarding Program, an effort that has and will continue to bring a huge return on investment for Critical Mention. More than just process, the CFW team took the time to learn our company culture and values and worked them into a solid turnkey onboarding program.”

    - Steve Shannon, Former VP of Sales, Critical Mention

  • “Cynthia is a professional in every sense of the word. She is an incredibly knowledgeable resource in career counseling as well as extremely devoted to those she works with. She ensured that I was well prepared for every position and offered her advice and guidance every step of the way. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a career coach!”

    -Brendan Spain, Former VP, Advertising, Financial Times

  • “I've had the pleasure of working with Rachel on multiple occasions throughout my career for a singular reason: Rachel is a game changer. If you're looking to find a new job, make a career pivot, or just need some advice, Rachel is someone you want in your corner. Her experience, honesty/candor, attention to detail and great personality help to make big career decisions seem easy and fun!”

    -Devin Shendell, Former Sr Acct Director -Enterprise Customer Success

  • “Working with CFW was one of the more seamless and pleasant experiences I've had in my professional career. From the beginning interviews to the closing process, everyone I worked with at CFW was so helpful, insightful, and instrumental in getting me the right offer. They truly cared about finding me a job that fit my qualifications and not just getting me hired. The friendliness and transparency of everyone at the office is simply contagious.”

    -Jon Ljekocevic, Former Deputy Director, Investor Relations, Euromoney

  • "The CFW Careers Coaching program is instrumental in navigating this climate of uncertainty. They have masterfully condensed (nearly) 50 years of career counseling into one effective program. Working with their team has helped me successfully transition into the work I feel called to do. Each person on the CFW Careers team has provided the most beneficial career path consultations. With their transitional coaching I have embarked on the next steps of my career path”

    - Sherry Adams, former SVP Content, eMarketer

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