When you’ve decided to work as a tutor online, the next step is finding online tutoring jobs. That brings questions like ‘Which is the best site for online tutoring?’ and ‘Where can I find students for online tutoring?’
In this article, we hope to answer all those questions and give you the necessary information, including how to apply for online tutoring jobs.
Online Tutor: Affiliated or Independent?
If you’re wondering, ‘How do I become a tutor online?’ there are two main routes into teaching online. You can either work through a tutoring website or set yourself up as a freelance tutor.
The benefit of working through a website is that your students come to you, while as a freelancer, you will have to find your own clients. The downside is flexibility; nothing gives you better control over your life than setting your own working hours. Here’s how to find online tutoring jobs from home for both of those options.
Best Tutoring Websites to Work For
1. Brainfuse
From K12 up, Brainfuse connects great educators with students who want to learn, making this one of the best online tutoring jobs for teachers. They cover a wide range of subjects and also support veterans and job seekers.
Unlike other sites with online applications, you need to send your CV in to be considered for Brainfuse. They don’t list which subjects they are recruiting for, but you can state that in your application email.
2. Cambly
If you like talking to different people and learning about their cultures, then Cambly is for you. It’s a site that supports people to learn spoken English, so you just log in and chat and get paid over $10 per hour to do it.
You can choose whether you work with kids or adults when you create your account. There is also a demo test for you to complete, but once that is out of the way, you can get started chatting and helping people to learn.
3. Preply
You can teach a wide variety of subjects on Preply, and unlike most other sites, you don’t need a degree to teach them. You just need to set up your profile and record a video introduction, and students can view these and decide if they want to work with you.
Preply takes a commission for students they connect you with, and that’s 100% for a trial lesson, reduced to 33% for regular lessons. The more hours you do with them, the lower your commission gets, and the least you will pay is 18%.
4. Tutor.com
A service of the Princeton Review, this site has more than 3,000 tutors offering help for more than 250 subjects. They teach from K-12 through college to post-grad and in-career training, giving a wide variety of clients to work with.
You need to live in the USA and either be a college graduate or be a sophomore or higher at university to apply (online tutoring jobs for students are a great way to earn extra income). You can either set a weekly schedule or just log in and work when you can.
5. VIPKID
This site specializes in teaching English as a second language to children from China. Don’t worry, though. You don’t need to be bilingual; this is ‘full immersion teaching, where you only speak English in class.
They pay upwards of $14 per hour, and you’ll need a Bachelor’s degree. You need to create an account to apply and then create a short demo lesson for review, but after that, you can set your own schedules.
Finding Your Own Online Tutoring Jobs
While Preply might be the most transparent about the cut they take, all of those sites are making money every time you run a tutoring session. If that doesn’t sit well with you, then you might be wondering how to find online tutoring jobs where you work directly with the students.
Here are some suggestions:
Create a Resume
When choosing a tutor, their education and experience is important, so updating your resume to showcase your talents needs to be your first step. Remember that this is a sales document and needs to make parents or carers feel confident you can help their child to learn.
Job Sites
Create a LinkedIn profile if you don’t already have one, and use their job search facility to see what openings there are. Other big job sites like Indeed, Hired.com, ZipRecruiter, and Monster are also worth checking out.
Local Listings
You might not think local when you’re considering how to get online tutoring jobs, but in a post-pandemic world, many people choose to do things remotely even when distance isn’t an issue.
Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and local newspaper listings are all good sources of leads.
Social Media
People can’t hire you unless they know what you’re doing. Start with friends and family and ask them to share – it’s amazing how many people you can reach this way. Setting up accounts for your tutoring business will allow you to separate your personal and professional lives.
Wyzant
At Wyzant, people looking for tutors add a listing. Once you have an account, you can then reply to those listing and offer your support. You can filter by geography and subject matter, and the platform allows for both in-person and online tutoring. Listings are free, and the playing field is fair – no paying a premium for a better ranking.
Managing Your Tutoring
If you are working for yourself, you will need to ensure that you get organized. This includes allowing students to schedule and rearrange appointments easily, keeping track of the hours you’ve worked, and of course, invoicing. While this can all be done with free tools, when asked, ‘Which app is best for online tutoring jobs?’ here are a few great options:
TutorCruncher
The app allows you to give students their own personal account to log into; they can contact you and schedule through that. It also provides a whiteboard for use in lessons and analytics tools to see how your business is doing.
Acuity Scheduling
From the makers of Square Space, Acuity allows you to set up appointments that fit your schedule including classes, letting multiple students sign up to a group session.
SimplyBook.me
One of the most popular appointment booking services, SimplyBook.me offers a free account; if you take less than 50 appointments a month, you will need to pay from $8.25 per month if you want to take payment through the system as well.
Vcita
This online tutoring software has been designed with micro and small businesses in mind. As well as letting you schedule and take payments, it also sends automatic reminders to students to help prevent no-shows.
Ready to Become an Online Tutor?
We hope this article has been useful to you! Now is a great time to share your skills and experience and make money while doing it. We wish you the best of luck finding a job or setting up your own tutoring business.
