Tutor: What is the cost of hiring?

Why recruit a tutor?

A tutor usually provides additional private instruction to students or pupils. Providing personalised lesson plans, assignments and learning/comprehension skills training, a tutor is a great way for learners to increase their educational performance. If you are a tutoring agency, recruiting high-quality tutors will help build your reputation in your educational niche. 

Qualities of a great tutor:

• A great communicator and listener, who is able to work flexibly with feedback provided by students
• Has leadership skills and is able to guide students through the process of completing an educational course
• Is at least a graduate in their field of education and preferably has a master’s or doctorate qualification

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance tutor

As an agency, it is more likely that you will be looking for a tutor on a freelance or contract basis. You may look to pair the right tutor with the right clients, based on the tutor’s level of expertise in an educational field, and whether their personalities fit. Your tutors may charge by the hour, with you as the contractor agency receiving a service charge from the client, or taking a commission out of the tutor’s fee that they charge the client.  

A typical tutoring session can run from 30 minutes to 2 hours, but can be much longer depending on the nature of the tuition. Tutors may teach their students once or twice a week until the completion of their course. 

Students might find using a tutor from an agency more appealing, as agencies often run background or DBS checks on their tutors before offering their services. It also means that students can skip the search for the ideal tutor, and means that they do not have to check a tutor’s credentials themselves.

What are the different types of tutor?

There are different types of tutor roles available depending on educational background and level of expertise. This is because clients often need to be guided through different academic levels, depending on their own educational level and the level of help that they require with their studies. This can be completing SATs in primary school or passing secondary school exams such as GCSEs and A-levels.

Tutors can also help students to pass bachelors and master’s degrees in higher education. Examples of tutors include:

• Primary School Tutors: can help build a child’s confidence in subjects like Maths and English, familiarising them with homework and sitting exams for the first time.
• University Tutors: can assist students with the preparation of their dissertation, thesis, coursework or passing exams at bachelor’s degree or postgraduate level.
• A-Level Tutors: can help students to complete the coursework and exams needed to complete AS and A-level courses.
• Test Preparation Tutors: can help prepare students or pupils to pass standardised tests at a range of educational levels.
• Special Education Tutors: can tailor their courses to the unique learning requirements of a student or pupil, such as for dyslexia, speech, or other language difficulties.

Where to find a tutor?

To find the right tutor for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Advertising on a tutor forum: Consider creating a generic call-out or job advertisement on popular online tutor forums.
• Posting a call-out for online tutors on an online tutoring website: Clients often use online tutoring websites to find tutors, but tutors also use them to find work. Create an account for your agency and advertise your services to both freelancing tutors and clients alike. 
• Posting a job advertisement on your agency website: On your agency website, create a drop-down menu option for jobs, and post any tutor job advertisements here. Make sure that you create a link to your contact information.
• Creating a job advertisement to post in your local area: In shops and supermarkets, you may find a job board. Here, you can post a simple, eye-catching advertisement for your agency. This will help attract local tutors to your website, where they can apply for jobs or sign up to your agency.

Post your job online: Try posting your job for a tutor on Indeed to find and attract quality tutor candidates.

Skills to look for in a great tutor

A great candidate for a tutor role will have the following skills and attributes as well as work experience that reflects:

• strong communication skills
• leadership qualities
• academic qualifications in their field
• emotional intelligence
• enthusiasm for their subject

Writing a tutor job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified tutor candidates. A tutor job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your job description for a tutor, consider including some or all of the following keywords to strengthen the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms resulting in clicks on jobs for tutors, according to Indeed data:

• tutor
• education
• online tutor
• maths tutor
• teaching
• english teacher
• remote working
• tutoring

Interviewing tutor candidates

Strong candidates for tutor positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• experience of tuition for specific educational levels
• preferences for teaching specific age groups or educational levels
• tuition environments, such as online or in-person tutoring
• planning and organisational skills
• their plans for the future and their career trajectory

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of tutor interview questions for examples (with sample answers).