80% Less Admin, Twice the Capacity: Garfield Stephens Ltd's Atlas Story

About Garfield Stephens Ltd

Garfield Stephens Ltd specializes in qualified finance, risk, and compliance appointments across all sectors throughout the UK. The agency has particular expertise in helping newly qualified accountants move from professional services into industry roles, working with clients across the country from a base in the Midlands. Its approach combines traditional recruitment values with modern technology and forward-thinking methods.

We spoke with Chris Garfield, Managing Director of Garfield Stephens Ltd, about how Atlas changed the way he runs his business.

Keep reading for the full story or check out our interview with Chris below:

Seven Contracts, One Problem: Finding a Better Way to Work

Chris has been running his own agency for 11 years, starting with a spreadsheet before moving through several CRMs, most recently Bullhorn. While it worked for a while, he found it slow and overloaded with features he never needed.

“It tried to be all things to all people, but for my business, I didn’t need to use 90% of what was on there,” Chris explains. Emails weren’t syncing automatically, phone calls went unrecorded, and a large share of his day-to-day communication never made it into the system at all.

To patch the gaps, he ended up stacking additional tools on top of his CRM. “I had about seven different contracts for different software solutions going into one, to supposedly make my life easier,” he says. “It wasn’t.”

A quieter period in the financial services recruitment market gave Chris the space to step back, refocus on his niche, and start looking for a solution that actually fit the way he worked.

AI Native, Not AI Bolted On

What stood out to Chris first was how much of his communication finally had a home. “For me, it was everything plugging in,” he says. “I’m always on the phone, emails, and messaging, and I communicate a lot with candidates and clients, but there was never a record of it anywhere.”

He had researched several providers before choosing Atlas, and the fact that it was built AI native from the ground up made the decision easier. “Atlas was one of a couple being AI native and having these effortless plug-ins. I knew instantly Atlas was going to make my life easier, and it’s proven to be the case,” he notes.

Support was another factor. Chris had experienced long lock-in contracts with other providers where getting a simple issue resolved felt like a battle. Atlas worked differently. “AI solves 80% of my questions, but if I need a helping hand from somebody human on the team, it’s a click away,” he says.

That responsiveness left a lasting impression early on. Chris raised a minor feature request in the Atlas community, and within 24 hours, it had been built and rolled out to every user. “It’s the speed of change which I’ve never experienced before, really,” he says. “It’s nice to know that even as a small business, I’m being listened to among the larger agencies as well, and that we’ve all got a voice.”

From Hours of Admin to Two Clicks

The feature Chris points to first when asked about return on investment is CV formatting. “CV formatting is brilliant. I used to pay for that as an addition,” he says. What used to take him a dedicated block of time, often a Thursday morning ritual, now happens as soon as a candidate conversation ends. A summary is generated automatically, and an anonymized CV can be sent to clients the same day.

Across formatting and related admin, Chris estimates he’s cutting the time spent by around 80% for the same output. “It means I’m a lot more nimble,” he says.

The Chrome extension played a big role in getting him there. “The Chrome extension has saved so much of my life. All that data, the profiles within Atlas, all the messaging and the bits and bobs, it’s all there,” he explains. Asked which single Atlas feature he’d keep if he had to choose only one, he didn’t hesitate. “It’s the Chrome tab for me. Even when I’m not within Atlas, I’m still connected to Atlas.”

Candidate reports have added a further layer of polish to his client work. “They really bring that professionalism. They give that higher-level, executive search feel to my assignments, and there’s no effort to it,” he says.

Handling More Roles Without Losing the Personal Touch

Client updates used to eat up a large chunk of Chris’s week, especially on retained search assignments where clients expect regular progress reports. “I’d spend three or four hours compiling all that data, profiles, going through emails,” he recalls. “Now it’s there. Press a button.”

Atlas lets him share a live project link or PDF directly with clients, giving them visibility into candidate progress at any time, including the ability to leave comments on individual profiles. “That’s a feature I didn’t even realize was there before I signed up,” Chris says. “That, for me, is fantastic. It makes a big difference.”

The impact goes beyond time saved on reporting. Chris was once taught that handling more than five to eight roles at a time was too much for one recruiter to manage well. With Atlas handling much of the admin behind the scenes, he now works confidently across 15 to 20 roles at once, a jump of up to 200% in capacity from where he started.

“With the automated features behind the scenes, I feel like I’m still keeping up with the right level of engagement,” he says. “It’s a significant improvement.”

His outreach has become more effective too. Where he previously saw response rates of 30 to 40% on professional networking platforms, having direct access to mobile numbers and email addresses has pushed that closer to 60%. “The same searches, but a lot of it being automated,” Chris says. “I’d say probably an uplift of 20 to 30% in terms of penetration in my market.”

Constant Evolution, Continuous Improvement

Asked what he’d tell another recruiter considering Atlas, Chris didn’t need long to answer. “The thing for me is the constant evolution. Every week, Atlas improves, gets better, and gets easier,” he says. He also points out that features other providers charge extra for often come standard with Atlas. “It’s a premium product, and it’s worth every penny.”

Reflecting on how Atlas compares to other tools he’s used across 11 years in the industry, Chris settled on one word.

Revolution.

“It feels completely different to me than anything else I’ve used before, but authentically so,” he adds. “I think it’s one of the few that actually deliver on that.”