Articles for Teachers
Whether you're a full-time teacher or professor, or you have experience working for a tutoring company, you can build your own clientele by getting private tutoring work. Individuals hire tutors for elementary, middle and high school courses, and for college and graduate-level courses. As a private tutor, you can help your clients improve their grades, prepare for tests and strengthen their skills. Private tutors set their own schedules, based on the demands of their clientele, and provide tutoring in subjects that are familiar to them.
Check your tutoring contract, if you currently work for a tutoring company, to determine whether there's a noncompete clause that prevents you from offering private tutoring services in a certain geographical location or to certain types of clients. Some companies prevent their tutors from providing private services while they're tutoring for them or within a certain time frame after they stop tutoring for them. Ensure that you won't breach your contract if you branch out on your own.
Identify which subjects you're equipped to tutor and which grade levels you feel most comfortable working with. If you have previous teaching and tutoring experience or have worked at a daycare or camp, use those experiences to help you pinpoint your ideal tutoring client. For example, you can tutor elementary school students in mathematics or you can focus on tutoring college students in a foreign language.
Decide which geographical areas you plan to target your private tutoring sessions to, and whether you want to use Web conferencing services to offer your students the option of online tutoring. Determine whether you're offering one-on-one or group tutoring options.
Develop a pricing strategy for your private tutoring services, which can include charging per hour or session. Tutoring sessions can range from 30 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on if you're tutoring a one-on-one session or group session, the subject being covered, if a student has an upcoming test and the student's familiarity with the topic.
Promote your private tutoring services online by posting advertisements on free classifieds and marketplace sites such as Craigslist, Thumbtack, Backpage and eBay Classifieds. Make your tutoring advertisements specific by listing the grade levels and subjects you offer services for, your pricing, the length of your sessions, your schedules and instructions for booking a session. If you have testimonials from past clients who passed classes or tests as a result of your tutoring, include them in your advertisements to increase your credibility as a tutoring professional.
Identify blogs and websites that target parents and college students in the geographical areas you plan to target. You can purchase banner advertising on these sites, get listed in their directories and craft guest blog posts on topics such as study habits, how to find a tutor, how to take notes and how to create a study area. These tactics help you promote your private tutoring work.
Contact local schools and ask to get added to their lists of tutors they refer. Many schools keep a list of potential tutors for parents to contact if their children need additional help.
Set up a referral program that encourages your tutoring clients to pass your information along to other parents who need tutoring services for their children. As an incentive, you can offer discounted or free tutoring sessions.