AI Automation
Thread Recruitment
A self-service integration that turned two to three hours of daily data entry into a webhook Chris controls himself
A recruitment founder was hand-copying candidate data from social media campaigns into his HR system. We scoped it in two calls, presented him the options, and built an integration he can extend himself without a developer.
~NZ$30,000 of founder time back per year
Two to three hours a day of copying records is roughly 600 hours a year. Valued conservatively at NZ$50 an hour, that is about NZ$30,000 of founder time returned to actually placing candidates. The self-service mapping adds to that every time Chris changes a campaign, because there is no developer to brief and no invoice to wait on.
The problem
What was actually broken
Thread Recruitment fills high-volume roles by running social media ad campaigns. Candidates answer a series of questions in a chat flow, and every one of those answers needed to end up in TeamTailor, the HR system the business runs on. The only thing connecting the two was Christopher.
- Two to three hours a day copying candidate answers from ManyChat into TeamTailor by hand.
- High campaign volume meant the backlog grew faster than he could clear it.
- Every manual entry was a chance for a typo to corrupt the BI data the business relies on.
- Time spent on data entry instead of placing candidates.
Why it mattered now
Christopher had already spoken with 18 engineers trying to get this solved. Every day without a fix was another few hours lost and another chance for the data to drift out of sync.
The approach
How we approached it
Christopher had been pitched at by a lot of engineers already, so the priority was a short, clear discovery process that ended in him choosing the approach rather than being sold one.
- 1
Two one-hour calls
We spent two hours total understanding the current stack, the shape of the candidate data, and where exactly the manual work happened. No long discovery engagement, because the problem did not need one.
- 2
Present the options, let him choose
We came back with a shortlist of ways to solve it, each with its trade-offs in plain English. Christopher picked the one that fit his business and his budget.
- 3
Design for self service
The brief we agreed on was not just to automate the copying. It was to make sure Christopher could change what gets synced later without needing a developer.
- 4
Build and test against real candidates
We built the webhook and ran it against live candidate flows until it was reliable enough to trust unattended.
The solution
What we built
Thread now has a real-time bridge between its ad campaigns and its applicant tracking system. The part Christopher values most is that he operates it himself.
Self-service field mapping
Christopher adds variables in his ManyChat flow following a naming convention. The way a variable is named and typed decides where it lands in TeamTailor, so he can wire up a new question himself in minutes.
Routing by field type
The integration writes to the right destination for each value: candidate record fields, notes, or answers to specific questionnaires. One convention covers all three.
Automated candidate sync
Completing a ManyChat automation flow fires a webhook that creates or updates the candidate in TeamTailor instantly, with no manual step.
Validation and sanitisation
Every payload is validated and sanitised before it syncs, so malformed data never reaches the HR system.
Before & after
From manual to automatic
Before
After
Candidate answers read out of a ManyChat conversation and retyped into TeamTailor, one field at a time.
Completing a flow fires a webhook and the candidate appears in TeamTailor instantly, fully populated.
Changing what gets captured meant briefing a developer and waiting for a release.
Chris names a variable in his ManyChat flow and the integration routes it to the right TeamTailor field himself.
Manual retyping meant typos, inconsistent records, and BI data nobody fully trusted.
Every payload validated and sanitised on the way in. Over 500 applications processed cleanly.
I spoke with 18 engineers before finding Anthony. He was the first who made me feel heard and could translate complex technical ideas into plain English. He delivered exactly what he promised: a seamless integration that just works. The manual work is gone, our data is clean, and communication throughout was top-tier.
The impact
What it changed
The manual work is gone, the data is clean, and Christopher can extend the integration himself as his campaigns change.
Return on investment
Two to three hours back, every working day.
That is the better part of a working day returned each week, with cleaner data as a bonus. Because the mapping is self service, the integration keeps paying off every time a campaign changes rather than needing another build.
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About us
We turn your goals into AI and software that actually works
A team of product engineers based in Queenstown, NZ. We work with you to understand the problem first, then build the right thing — not just the possible thing.
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