Our commitment to candidates
A road map for your career journey
Like you, we understand that mapping out a career in finance, accountancy or tax is all about developing key relationships. Founded by finance professionals, at Artemis Clarke we take time to understand your career goals and aspirations, your motivations and values, enabling us to help you find the perfect finance role to fit your skills, aspirations and personality.
Let us guide you through your career journey. Whether you’re a newly qualified CIMA/ACCA or ACA, a seasoned manager or an Executive in finance, accounting or tax – in practice or in industry – we’re ideally placed to keep you informed about the best finance role opportunities across the UK and beyond.
Our aim is to build a long–term relationship with you and so we make no apology for being selective about whom we represent.
When you first contact us, regardless of level, we’ll put you through our Assessment Process. This initially involves completing two online tests and a recorded video interview. Assuming you pass both tests and come across well via the interview platform, we’ll then arrange a face to face interview (via MS Teams) with you where we will listen to what you want from your career and discuss how we can help you take the next step to finding an organisation that shares your values and priorities.
As a candidate you are just as important to us as our clients and as such you can expect the following commitment from us:
- Professionalism
- We always acknowledge and respond to all job applications or speculative approaches
- Helping our candidates find the right role is more important than a fee and so if we see the perfect opportunity that is not with one of our clients, we will still tell you about it
- Empathy
- We will be empathetic to your personal circumstances and pride ourselves on helping candidates who have a slightly unusual CV or who are looking to work flexibly
- Team work
- We will be sensitive to your existing work commitments and are happy to arrange calls and MS Teams meetings in the evenings and weekends at your convenience
- If you become one of our Fractional Finance Directors we will support you throughout your placement
- Reputation
- We will not attempt to contact your existing line manager with a view to developing a relationship with them to win new work on your departure
- Ethics
- We will always obtain your permission before submitting your CV to a client and we will never change your CV without your approval
- We will not contact referees without your express permission
5-stage Assessment Process
Do you have what it takes to make it onto the AC Talent Database?
All candidates go through our five–stage Assessment Process before their CVs are submitted to a client. As a result of this process, we really get to know each candidate as an individual and this is why we believe we have been so successful to date. In fact, many of our senior FD/FC level candidates are so impressed by our approach that they come back to us and become clients when they are next looking to recruit for their own teams.
Stage 1
Key criteria assessment
If you are considering applying for a role directly via our website or via one of the on-line job boards then please take a moment to look at the job specification and take the time to highlight your relevant experience and skills in a tailored cover letter. Candidates who make the effort to do this will be far more successful at getting through to the next stage.
Stage 2
Aptitude test
This bespoke test, unique to Artemis Clarke, is a blend of logic, numeracy, literacy and accounting questions and should take around 20 minutes to complete. This test gives us an indication of your inherent ability and so if you complete it quickly and get a high score, we are likely to rate you as a strong candidate.
Stage 3
Bookkeeping test
Again, this test is unique to Artemis Clarke. To pass this test you do need to be an accountant or at least understand the accounting language of debits and credits. If you are applying for a more entry level role then we will take this into account when looking at your scores. At the more senior end however, our requirements are more stringent and to become one of our associate Fractional Finance Directors we look for a score of greater than 90% in less than 30 minutes.
Stage 4
Recorded screening interview
Assuming that you meet the key criteria for the role you will be invited to record answers to some interview questions via our online video platform. This will give us an initial impression of how you come across and will be used in conjunction with stages 2 and 3 to determine whether to progress you to our final stage of the Assessment Process.
Stage 5
Face to Face interview (via MS Teams)
During this interview we will listen to what you want from your career and discuss how we can help you take the next step to finding an organisation that shares your values and priorities. We will also ask you to talk through your career to date so that we can ascertain your reasons for the career choices you have made, understand any gaps and, assuming you have applied for a specific role, check that the key criteria assessment was accurate. This should normally take around 30 minutes. Should you have any questions about the role, these can be addressed then.
Become a Fractional Finance Director
Are you a qualified accountant looking for a portfolio career?
Then let us help you make that dream a reality. We specialise in working with growing SMEs, typically with turnover between a few million to £20m, sometimes more. The needs of these clients vary considerably but typically they come to us because of a trigger event, such as seeking funding, looking to grow, managing cash-flow or seeking an exit strategy.
Sounds fun? We think so too.
To become one of our Fractional Finance Directors you will need to be high calibre. This will mean you need to wow us in our Five Stage Assessment Process. Ideally you will have an audit practice background and experience within a variety of different business sectors including fast growing SMEs. To find out more about our network of associate Fractional Finance Directors:
What candidates say
