About us
We’ve come a long way since Artemis Clarke was born back in December 2014.
Back then, our chartered accountant founder Kate Clarke had little more than her first-class accounting qualification, a passion for helping people and a vision that she could create the most respected financial recruitment agency in the UK and beyond.
What started as a niche financial recruitment agency in the South West has evolved into a financial resourcing consultancy specifically aimed at fast growing SMEs wherever they are located. One of the great advantages of the global crisis of 2020 was that we quickly adapted our business model and now operate completely online with all staff working flexibly and remotely. As a result, our ability to service a wider geographical area has increased dramatically as has our speed of service.
Some things, however, have remained the same:
Professionalism
Our reputation for professionalism and integrity mean that we attract the best talent
Empathy
We are empathic to our clients and our candidates needs and will find a solution that works for both
Team work
We work as a team on each role so there is no internal competition for candidates
Reputation
We are not incentivised by targets and our reputation is always more important than a fee
Ethics
Founded by a chartered accountant, we follow a strict ethical code of conduct.
Kate
FOUNDER
Founder Kate Clarke is well versed with finance, accounting and tax functions. She originally trained as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen, firstly in audit and then as a corporate tax specialist. She then enjoyed a number of finance and tax roles in industry before putting her career on hold to bring up a young family.
In 2012 her corporate career was reignited, but in a new form – as Head of The Mitie Foundation; a corporate charity which focuses on, amongst other things, helping the unemployed into work. It was this experience that sparked the idea to set up Artemis Clarke as, not only had it given her the confidence to build something from scratch, it had made her realise how much she enjoyed matching candidates with job opportunities. It also fulfilled a lifelong ambition to run her own business.
The added bonus; that she understands what candidates are looking for in their careers, as well as understanding the needs of her clients, has resulted in the enviable reputation that Artemis Clarke is enjoying for bespoke financial recruitment and financial resourcing consultancy.
Nic
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Nic joined us as a qualified accountant (AAT and ACCA) with a background in a variety of industry finance roles from payroll up to Finance Business Partner working across various divisions within a FTSE 250 PLC. Nic has also worked in an accountancy practice for three years and so has a good understanding of the demands within professional services.
Unusually for a recruitment company, everyone at Artemis Clarke plays a part in all the roles we place. Nic is the starting point with her focus on leading our Executive Search Process which includes delving deep into our Talent Database. As such, Nic is responsible for setting the very high candidate standards which the rest of the team then follows up via our 5-Stage Assessment Process.
Everyone at Artemis Clarke works remotely and flexibly and Nic relishes ensuring that all aspects of our operations are running smoothly and that each person has everything required to keep the business running smoothly and efficiently. Thanks to her expertise and dedication to finding the perfect match between candidates and businesses, Nic became Operations Director in Sept 2022, joining Kate on the Board of Artemis Clarke.
Jane
ADMINISTRATOR
Prior to joining Artemis Clarke, Jane had enjoyed a successful career in the Financial Services industry, specialising in the provision of pension advice within a FTSE 250 PLC.
Her professional training and attention to detail mean that she is well placed to manage our candidate 5-Stage Assessment Process and ensures that each candidate gets the individual attention they deserve.
Paula
Candidate Assessment Facilitator
If you make it to the final stage of our Assessment Process, you’ll be interviewed by Paula, whose varied background affords her the expertise to ensure a good match between people and roles.
Experience in Finance & Operations in a range of SMEs, as well as a period running her own business, give Paula the insight needed to deeply understand the unique requirements of every company we work with.
James
ADMINISTRATOR
Claire
MARKETING
Claire assists with everything to do with words – from our blogs, LinkedIn posts to our webcopy. Claire previously ran her own business and developed a love of honest and authentic marketing.
Claire loves to share a story and is keen to show candidates and clients how Artemis Clarke can help them grow. She’s a keen cold-water swimmer, and happily takes any chance to get outside for a nice walk where some of the best ideas are found!
Associate network of Fractional Finance Directors
Our Fractional Finance Directors work with us for the long term
Our network of fully vetted, experienced Fractional Finance Directors are usually placed in client businesses for a few days a month, delivering all the benefits of a full time FD at a fraction of the cost.
We may place a Fractional FD to oversee a specific project, to put in place some systems and controls, or to build or mentor an effective finance team for the client business. They may stay with a client for many months or even years, delivering high level strategic oversight to help the business scale and meet its growth objectives.
Whatever the situation, we keep in touch with all of our Finance Directors individually, not just with the clients they are placed with.
Many of our Finance Directors go on to become our clients. Having experienced our Executive Search and 5-Stage Assessment Process first-hand themselves, they know we are perfectly placed to find and assess the right candidates to help them build a highly successful finance team for their placement businesses.
Here’s why our Fractional Finance Directors keep working with us, ensuring our clients have access to their decades of experience:
- We treat each one of our Fractional Finance Directors as valued members of our team – we keep in touch before, during and after all placements, and ensure they’re always fully supported.
- Before placing a Fractional FD, we carry out our Finance Team Diagnostics Session and draw on our own experience as qualified accountants to find out exactly what the role requires in terms of skills, experience and values. This means we can place every Fractional Finance Director into a role that provides a great fit for their individual skills, interests and experience – so they can deliver their very best work for their placement business.
- We build a supportive network for our Fractional Finance Directors, enabling them to share knowledge, ask questions and offer advice to their peers. This helps them to stay abreast of new developments and have access to fresh perspectives to help solve any particularly gritty challenges their clients’ businesses face.
- As accountants at heart ourselves, we follow a strict code of conduct. We believe in always treating clients and candidates with Integrity, transparency, professionalism & empathy.
If you’d like to find out more about hiring a Fractional Finance Director, or becoming one of our Associate FFDs yourself.
Join Team Artemis
Could we be what you’re looking for?
We’re on a mission to become the most respected financial recruiter throughout the UK and beyond and we know that to achieve this, we can’t do it on our own. We have already doubled in size over the past two years and our ambitious growth plans mean that we will be on the recruitment journey ourselves again in the near future. If you share our values and you can answer yes to the following questions, then please get in touch as we’d love to hear from you:
Are you a qualified accountant?
Do you dream of working flexibly?
Do you pride yourself on your work ethic?
Do you love giving great customer service?
Do you have great attention to detail?
If you think you’d make a great addition to the Artemis Clarke team then please email us your CV together with a cover letter explaining why we should hire you!
Our Values
We are passionate about our values. Here are some examples of how we demonstrate these values:
- Professionalism
- Respond to all candidate calls and applications in a timely manner to ensure clarity around the process and next steps
- Use our financial expertise to prioritise the right solution for our clients even if that means a lower fee for us
- Recognise the important nature of our role for candidates and clients and offer honesty, trust, and clarity throughout our relationship, and beyond
- Empathy
- Be considerate of people’s existing work and life commitments and arrange meetings around them
- Invest quality time in understanding candidates’ and clients’ unique requirements to ensure a mutually positive and rewarding match
- We are privy to confidential and sensitive business and personal information and our team are experienced and trusted individuals with whom all information shared is considered and secure
- Team work
- Work together as a team on every role to benefit from the diverse ideas, knowledge and experience each individual offers
- Flex workloads at times of absence or increased demands to ensure each team member is supported
- Adhere to and continually improve internal processes to ensure that all team members have access to up to date and accurate information
- Reputation
- We are clear on our timeframes and methods and if we feel there is an issue, we will choose honesty rather than over-promising to win work and letting a client down
- We offer a generous 12 week guarantee on all of our placements as we are confident in our process and candidates
- Ethics
- We never poach candidates from existing clients
- We never use information shared by candidates regarding other roles they have applied for to win new work (unless they have been unsuccessful and give their permission).
Corporate Social Responsibility
At Artemis Clarke, we place high importance on corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) and we are always looking at how we can improve our impact on both the environment and society. Our commitment to CSR is demonstrated by the following initiatives:
- Since 2016 we have operated a paperless office
- In 2020 we took the business completely online, thus reducing our carbon footprint to minimal levels (we were already pretty good before then as our MD drives an electric car)
- We invest in refurbished computers where possible
- We provide charitable support via donations of all referral income received. In the last 6 years this has amounted to more than £3,000 donated to the following charities chosen by our staff:
