Dinosaurs Unlimited

Dinosaurs Unlimited was established in April 2001 by Barry Badham and Ray Steele after a chance conversation one evening about ageism in the workplace

Barry had taken early retirement in February 2001 (at the age of 55) after a 30 year career in selling and marketing with Motor Dealerships, and Ray had been made redundant in September 2000 (at the age of 52) after 20 years in Financial Services when the company he had been working for was taken over six months earlier.

Discussing what they were going to do in the future they jokingly referred to themselves as being a pair of Dinosaurs and considered that it must be difficult for older people to find work - due to the apparent ageist culture that seemed to exist in larger companies.

Both Barry and Ray felt that most Recruitment companies were not interested in helping the more mature person find a new position so, the idea of a Recruitment company specialising in finding work for over 45 year olds was born.

Dinosaurs Unlimited has established a strong presence in the West Midlands with many client companies placing further vacancies with us and many previously unemployed Dinosaurs are now either employed full or part time, on short term and interim contracts and the response from Employers has been tremendous.

"Dinosaurs Unlimited do not operate in the same way as most other recruitment agents. From the very first contact right through to appointment of the successful candidate, the service, expertise and professionalism that I encountered were second to none. Dinosaurs offer a thorough and comprehensive service enabling them to really understand the brief and source suitable candidates. They really worked with me and I felt that they cared as much as I did about making the right appointment. I do not hesitate in recommending their services."

“ When Yeoman Pressings Ltd was looking to recruit a Production Engineer with hands on shop floor experience Dinosaurs Unlimited was the obvious choice. We had heard of them through our sister company and they seemed to be just what we needed.

Unlike some companies today, we were specifically looking for a more mature individual who could bring with them a wealth of engineering experience. In addition, we also had a clear idea of the type of individual that would fit into our fast paced, customer-committed culture.

In a company of our size recruitment decisions are critical. This makes us fastidious when choosing new employees. Dinosaurs worked with us very closely to identify the right candidate, taking time to understand the finer aspects of our requirements. Their attention to detail meant that only candidates with a good fit were presented to us.

In the end there were three candidates, all very capable, but one in particular was a near perfect fit. This was not luck but the result of completing a very thorough recruitment process designed specifically for our needs by Dinosaurs. I highly recommend them.”

“ We used Dinosaurs Unlimited because I recognised that FormFin Limited had grown very rapidly in a very short space of time. Our policy of promoting from within meant that there had not been enough time to gain necessary managerial skills and experience.

Thus we approached Dinosaurs Unlimited to fill the need for experience and to enable the company to give a better grounding to its enthusiastic young team. We were pleasantly surprised with the professionalism, and help given, in assisting us to fulfil our requirements.

We would not hesitate to recommend your services and would like to thank you for all your help.”

“ Because we are a medium sized company, who look after the pennies, we always demand value for money. Larger employment agencies have proved both expensive and not very reliable when it comes to selecting the appropriate candidate for our company.

Dinosaurs Unlimited spent quality time with us to understand our past experiences and why we thought that previous candidates have failed.
After being given the choice of three prospective candidates, we selected the one that we thought would fit into our organisation, someone who has worked in a similar environment, working within a family business has proved to be a difficult task for many professional people.

Our present hopeful has proved he can work with the family business and is aware of the financial constraints placed upon him. The results are slowly proving to be successful and our long-term relationship appears to be very promising.”

“ Just a note to thank you for the service provided by Dinosaurs Unlimited following our own unsuccessful attempt in employing a ‘Technical Administrator’ over many months of advertising.

Being a small company, the position needed to encompass varied responsibilities ranging from production manufacturing control, both in house & sub contract, to Quality aspects in line with QS9000 requirements.

On your finding a suitable candidate, it was appreciated that a sensible financial agreement was reached during his three months probationary period.
We are pleased to inform you that he has been offered a permanent position & feel sure he will become a valuable member of the team.”

“ We are a charitable limited company, and we decided that we needed a full-time paid administrator.

Following up an advertisement of Dinosaurs Unlimited, we interviewed Barry Badham, a Director, who convinced us that his company could provide us with three or four candidates for interview. He then arranged the interviews, and a new administrator was appointed.

The whole procedure went smoothly, and we are happy with the resulting appointment.”

“ It is just over six months since the senior executive you helped to find for us commenced.

As you know we were delighted to find and have your business help us recruit an executive with the experience and real knowledge of what is necessary to run a small to medium size business.

Dinosaurs Unlimited has found a niche in recruitment, which genuinely helps both the individual and the employer. Your background work in matching our requirements to individuals meant we had a proper short list from which to recruit.

“ Just a quick note to thank you both for the invaluable assistance in finding staff for both GMS and Screenwatch over the past few months.

As you know Dinosaurs have helped us with staff at all levels and we have no doubt that we shall be using your service even more in the future.

We are presently looking for a mobile supervisor in the Greater London area and we are always on the lookout for senior guarding staff in all areas, especially in the West Midlands.”

“ Brandenburg UK is a West Midlands based manufacturing and design business who have grown from £2m to £6m in three years. We have established an excellent working relationship with Dinosaurs Unlimited who have successfully supported our business through this dramatic growth phase.

Being able to supply experienced staff at very short notice has been a major success factor in our growth rate, solving a number of difficult resource issues very quickly and professionally.

Dinosaurs have been especially good at finding staff in a variety of disciplines; Finance, Manufacturing and Sales - all of which have fed our expansion."

" Dinosaurs Unlimited have provided us with some top quality people with exactly the skills and experience we were looking for."

About Us