Q. What kind of work does TES offer?
We specialise in office support work such as secretarial, clerical, reception, administrative, PA and EA, project management, finance assistance, HR assistance, marketing and events support. We do occasionally get asked to fill other roles such as IT, museum work, library assistance and manual work, but the vast majority of the assignments we cover are administrative so we look for strong administrative skills and experience in our candidates.
Q. What kind of pay rate could I get through TES?
As a minimum TES pay the Real Living Wage. The hourly rate you will receive is dependent on the level of the work in the assignment. Typically assignments are paid between £12.00 and £17.81 per hour, plus holiday pay.
Q. What hours of work are available through TES?
The vast majority of TES assignments take place during standard office hours, Monday to Friday.
TES fill both full time and part time assignments.
Q. Can I get remote working via TES?
The assignments we are asked to fill are either hybrid (a mixture of remote working and onsite working) or are fully onsite.
Q. How do I apply to join the TES worker pool?
Please see Apply to register with TES | Human Resources (cam.ac.uk) for further information on applying, including the link to our online application form.
Q. How should I format my CV for my application?
We have a CV tips document on our website, it can be found here: Apply to register with TES | Human Resources (cam.ac.uk)
Q. When will you contact my referees?
We contact your referees after interview.
Q. I submitted my application to TES, what happens next?
We will review your CV and application form, assessing your experience and availability.
If we do not feel we would be able to find you work then we will let you know that we are not taking your application forward.
Where we feel your experience and availability are a good match for the kind of assignments we are asked to fill then we will invite you to an interview (currently held online).
You will undertake a skills test (at home) before the interview and we will request your references after interview. The interview, your tests and your references will be considered and we will make a decision as to whether we can register you as a worker in the TES pool.
If we are able to register you in the TES pool then we will be working to find assignments for you and will be in touch when we have some opportunities to discuss.
Q. A department have approached me and asked me to work on a specific job through TES, what should I do?
You should not submit an application to be a TES worker, this is just for those who wish TES to find work for them. Instead you should tell your departmental contact that they will need to submit a Payroller Temporary Worker Form (found on our website). Once we have received that we will contact you and invite you to a registration meeting. You must not start working for the department until you have attended a registration meeting with TES.
Q. I have worked for TES in the past and then left TES, do I need to reapply if I want to return?
Yes, you do please. We need to review all your up to date information to understand you current experience and availability and to see how that matches to the current needs in TES.
Q. I am a current University employee and would like to work additional hours, can I register with TES?
You are very welcome to apply to TES. If you are successful in your application, how likely it is we can find work for you will depend on your availability. We have plenty of both full time and part time jobs, however, if you are looking for just a very few hours in a week or are only available in evenings or weekends then there are likely to be fewer opportunities we can offer you as the requests we receive are usually for at least a day’s worth of hours and usually during standard office hours.
You should note that you are limited to the rules of the Working Time Directive – these apply across all jobs that you are doing. Working time rules can be found here: Timesheets and getting paid | Human Resources (cam.ac.uk)
Q. I am a current University employee, would I need a break before joining TES?
If you have worked as an employee for the University you have to have a gap of 4 weeks after your final day as an employee, before starting work via TES. You can apply to register with TES before that and if successful in your application we can start looking for work for you, but you couldn’t start working until your 4 weeks was complete.
If you are wanting to resign from your University employment anyway then that’s fine, what we don’t tend to do is encourage people to resign simply in order to undertake TES work as there is no guarantee that we will be able to find work for you so you would be taking a risk. Additionally, we cannot sign you up while you are still working if you don’t want to resign until you are offered TES work, as you will have a notice period and then the 4 week gap and it’s very unlikely a department will wait that long to fill a temp position.
Q. I applied for a vacancy on the Job Opportunities website, are you able to advise me on where my application is with that?
We will be unable to help you with applications you have made (or are going to make) for contractual jobs as we do not have access to any information relating to them. The advert should give details of someone you can contact with any queries. If the advert has closed and you wish to make contact then we would advise calling the relevant department and they should be able to help you. A list of departments can be found here: Department A - Z | University of Cambridge
Q. I am looking for a contractual position with the University, are you able to help with that?
We are not able to help you find contractual work with the University, TES only deals with temporary work assignments. For the contractual job opportunities at the University please see: Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge