I am interested in becoming a tutor. If you are employed or self employed, please share the pros and cons?

I am interested in becoming a tutor. If you are employed or self employed, please share the pros and cons. If you tutor for a company as an employee, I'd like to know how steady the work is, what is the customary pay range and are there any expenses.

What is the typical day like? How/where did you find the job? Are there any web sites for more info or job offerings?

If you are self-employed, I'd like to ask the same basic questions. Asked by Renrul26 55 months ago Similar Questions: interested tutor employed share pros cons Recent Questions About: interested tutor employed share pros cons Computers > Software.

Similar Questions: interested tutor employed share pros cons Recent Questions About: interested tutor employed share pros cons.

My sister-in-law is a tutor. She gets $40 to $60 an hour. That is what she got when she taught at the University but without the benefits like insurance and pension plans.

She makes extra cash because she is a natural night owl (she's married to my musician brother). That means the company sends her out to run all-night or late-night study sessions at time-and-a-half or more sometimes. Most of the other tutors refuse to work after normal business hours.

Plus, she lives in a college town and specializes in college students, so most of them aren't too far from the University. That means traveling isn't too bad (but parking is a nightmare). She also has a PhD.

In Physics, so she tutors folks for math, chemistry and physics, and for things like qualifying exams for graduate students. There aren't a lot of folks out there with that background so she gets a premium. You might consider online tutoring.

I see sites such as TutorVista.com, Tutor.com, e-Tutor.com and many, many more. That would cut down on the driving time. There are also sites that seem to be hiring.

The only amount I see quoted is $10 per hour. Here are a few of them: ehomeworkhelp.com/tutors/tutorapp.cfm aim4a.com/tutors.php jobs.collegerecruiter.com/JS/General/Job... tutornation.com/ worldwideworkathome.com/teaching.html Some, like Sylvan, require a teaching certificate, but others simply ask for a college degree or proof of expertise in a perticular subject. Sources: Various, cited in answer darwin™'s Recommendations Tutoring as a Successful Business - An Expert Tutor Shows You How Amazon List Price: $18.95 Used from: $10.90 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 10 reviews) Tutoring Matters: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About How to Tutor Amazon List Price: $19.95 Used from: $15.00 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) .

As you expected, there are pros and cons... I have spent thousands of hours tutoring students on an individual basis (from junior high school through university students, but mostly high school students). In addition, I actually ran a tutoring company with 8 professional tutors, and it was in business for many years, at which time I actually gave it to my brother (after I started another business). The pros: Professional tutoring can be personally rewarding, and it is a job where your work is highly appreciated.

Assuming that you will be tutoring kids, you'll get a mix of attitudes, all depending on whether the child or the parent initiated tutoring, and whether the student likes the idea. You'd probably want to specialize either with K-6 (or K-8), or with high school students. The skill sets are pretty different, though you can probably tutor junior high students either way.

The pay is very good, but it varies according to the region of the country. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area or New York, you can get $40 to $75 per hour, depending on your own education, background, and experience. In other areas of the country, the pay would scale based on the cost of living.

If you work for yourself, you will have a lot of flexibility on your scheduling. For example, you can decide that you are going to take every Tuesday off, and work Saturdays instead. If you work for a company (like Sylvan Learning Centers), the work may be less flexible, and not much different from other part time jobs.

It is unclear from your question whether you would want a part time or full time job, but a full time job at a company that does tutoring would probably end up to be like any other work week, though you would most likely be working something close to a swing shift and/or a lot of weekends. It is possible to run a business in addition to your own tutoring (I did), and there is money to be made if you do this. You would have to hire other tutors, arrange things with new clients, and then have a billing system in place.

You would also need to manage any problems that arise, and probably carry liability insurance. You can take 20-50% of the total fee (depending on the area you live in, etc.) as your cut, and give the rest to the tutors. You would have to charge an hourly rate near the upper end of the range in order to do this, and your tutors would make somewhere near the lower end of the range, but you would be providing the marketing, billing services, and client management for them, and those services are valuable.

Obtaining business is fairly easy. To obtain business, simply align yourself with a few local schools, get to know the teachers in the subjects you want to tutor, and they will likely send you students. This is an easy way to do your marketing.

Buy each department a big box of candy (or other appropriate small gift) a couple of times a year, and go and visit each school about once a month. You should end up with a fair number of referrals if you do this. Word of mouth is often the best advertising method once you get started.

You can also post ads in strategic places in your area (school cafeterias if they will allow it, or in a local newspaper), but the personal recommendations are your best bet. Cons: If you work for yourself, it will be difficult to schedule full time work. There is a lot of demand for tutoring in most places where there are a lot of students, but students will cancel on you, no-show, and move their appointments.

When they do, it is almost impossible to fill those slots at the last minute. You will also have trouble scheduling appointments back to back, as your clients will have to find time when they don't have sports and other activities. This can make your schedule rather odd, and it results in some wasted time.

It can be somewhat better if you have your clients come to you (at your home or an office), but you will still have "holes" in your schedule. In addition, the work really drops off in the summer, and you have to have a whole different set of summer clients who want to do in-depth work during the school holidays. Note that you won't get paid when you don't work, so you have to plan your finances well.

For example, almost no one wants tutoring during the 2 week Christmas break, and sometimes they drop out a week or so before the break, and come back a week or so afterwards. This can give you some nice vacation time, but you have to plan for it financially. Even the companies that hire tutors generally only pay when there is business.

You often get paid per student you tutor, so there isn't much of an advantage to doing it that way unless you have trouble finding your own clients. The work can be very tiring. You need to give a fair amount of energy to each individual student, and it is difficult to do that hour after hour.

This is one reason that most tutors work part time, for only a few hours a day. Since most students are in school during most of the regular work day, you would likely have to work late afternoons, evenings, and weekends in order to accommodate your clients' schedules. Your schedule ends up being pretty chopped up, and so your only free blocks of time would probably be during the regular school day, though you could certainly decide not to work on Saturday and/or Sunday.

If you are self-employed, you have to find your own clients, and getting started can be difficult, mostly because people will not know you are there. Word of mouth will eventually help you to build a client base, but there tends to be a lot of turnover of clients, so you always have to be looking for new ones. Working for a tutoring company can alleviate the task of obtaining your own clients, but it doesn't tend to pay very well (perhaps half of what you would get if you are self-employed), and you also would have less flexibility on how you conduct your sessions.

In addition, you may have less flexibility about when you work. It would be a job just like any other job. Typical day: If you are tutoring a "full day," you would likely start around 3:00 p.m.

In the afternoon, and finish around 10:00 p.m. If students come to you, then you would typically have one hour sessions (though you could do 50 minute sessions so that you have a 10 minute break in between), and you could do a maximum of about 6 hours. You'd certainly need to take at least a one hour break for dinner, and you'd have a difficult time tutoring for 6 hours in a row anyway.

You'd likely feel pretty exhausted by the time you finished your last session. You would be spending most of your time sitting at a table with a student, and you'd mostly be doing homework with them, explaining as you go (and as necessary). The bottom line is that you have to decide whether the job is really for you, but it can be a lot of fun, and you get to know a lot of nice students!

Expenses: There are no special expenses associated with tutoring, though you may decide that you want to carry liability insurance. If you tutor at your home, your homeowner's insurance will generally not cover you for a business you are running out of your house. You may have to obtain a business license, depending on the rules in your city.

If you go to others' homes, you will have to "eat" the cost of gas and the travel time, and build it into your hourly rates. Other than that, there is nothing out of the ordinary. General: I started my own company based on a demand I saw in my community, so I didn't really find the job.

I went to local schools (as I suggested), and I soon began getting referrals. I eventually had more business than I could handle, even with 8 tutors. However, the work is not terribly steady.

It ebbs and flows, and so you have to make hay while the sun shines. I hope all this helps. :) Sources: My own experience tutoring and running a tutoring business.

There is a lot of auto travel, and it does not pay much I considered professional tutoring to fill in the time between getting my teaching certificate, which was awarded to me in December, and the start of the school year in August. I interviewed with a company that provides for-profit tutoring for the SAT, GRE, and some other things. The job would have required extensive auto travel throughout the Chicago area, where I live, and paid an unattractive hourly rate, something like $12/hr.

The auto mileage was reimbursible, but there are IRS limits on that, and overall, it just didn't seem worth it to me, even just to fill in time. The company also charged obscene rates to clients, most of whom were pushy parents trying to get their kids into snooty colleges. Even if it paid better, I wouldn't want to tutor those kids.

I was interested in it initially, because I earned money in college by tutoring other students. This, however, was a free service provided by the university; I was paid a small, hourly rate - but it was tax free thanks to some breaks the IRS gives to public universities. I was pretty strapped for cash in those days, so the small income I got from it made a difference.

I also knew I was helping people - not all, but some - and I felt good about doing it. Most of the professional tutors I know now are also professional, certified teachers, who have left the school system. Typically, these are people who have retired, or left their positions to care for their own children, and work part time.

I know of a few who do it full time, and seem to make a decent living at it, but they are also the ones that get hired by the pushy-snooty parents. Dealing with parents like that is not pleasant; I certainly had enough head-butts with them when I taught high school. If you are interested in tutoring school-aged children, you should have at least some teaching experience, and you'll need to be prepared to deal with behavioral issues.

When a student is underperformiing, the reasons are often related to the home environment, or to developmental issues like ADHD - a real, though overdiagnosed, condition. Dealing with these kids can be tough, and risky to you. You must establish a rapport with their parents as well as the kids themselves.

Kids who are struggling in school rarely turn themselves around without parental involvement - they should not just expect to hire a tutor and wash their hands of it, but some of them expect just that, and blame you when the kid continues to fail. If I were to do it again, I'd go back to school and take a couple of courses, to get myself certified in Special Ed. Then, I would try to hook up with one of the local school districts, or a charity, or other nonprofit, and concentrate on helping kids who really need help.

Coaching a kid with a B+ average to get more A's isn't my thing. Nevertheless, this would be a part-time, post-retirement kind of thing. I would not try to make a living at it.

Sources: Teaching IchtheosaurusRex's Recommendations Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder Amazon List Price: $14.95 Used from: $7.95 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 50 reviews) You need to know about this.

I tutored for almost a year my experience had its ups and downs. The child I tutored was great and very bright. On the other hand his environment was busy - meaning that he was shifted to different households and everyone worked.

He was also spoiled. I had to get his attention and keep it. I was also expected to be a miracle maker.

You have to remember these kids need help with their studies and alot is expected from you. I was able to help him pass. The downside was the family.

We would be interrupted during study time. When he had a project I was expected to help with it. Even though I was only there to help with homework and to get him to understand and catch up with his work.

If he passed a test that was great. If he failed a test him and I were blamed. Even though once I left he never read or practiced his work.

The family did pay on time though, that was never a problem. Occasionally I think about doing it again. It is very rewarding.

But i'm not sure I want to actually commit myself to doing it. Unlike a regular job - these people do depend on you unless they only want you for a short amount of time. Sources: personal experience .

1 IchtheosaurusRex, regarding your answer "There is a lot of auto travel, and it does not pay much": Thank you so much for your answer. I have homeschooled my child for 6 years, I taught at the high school level for nearly a year (on a provisional certificate), and substituted in both primary and middle school. My step son had ADHD and I well know the challenges that presents.

I have recently seen several listings for "tutor" on my state's department of labor web site. The pay scales listed are from $14 to $20 per hour. Your answer has given me a good insight as to what I might expect.

Thanks again.

IchtheosaurusRex, regarding your answer "There is a lot of auto travel, and it does not pay much": Thank you so much for your answer. I have homeschooled my child for 6 years, I taught at the high school level for nearly a year (on a provisional certificate), and substituted in both primary and middle school. My step son had ADHD and I well know the challenges that presents.

I have recently seen several listings for "tutor" on my state's department of labor web site. The pay scales listed are from $14 to $20 per hour. Your answer has given me a good insight as to what I might expect.

Thanks again.

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