Tutor House Guide: Become a Tutor with Us
Tutor House is a UK leading tutoring company that specialises in online tuition, home-schooling, and retake courses for primary up to degree level students. We are on a mission, and have been for the last 10 years, to find the very best tutors. We want to make our students feel supported and confident in their abilities and the same goes for our tutors!
So, you might be wondering; what's the process of becoming a Tutor House tutor like? Well, with our straightforward sign-up guide, you’ll be able to find out more about the application process and learn some top tips and tricks on how to stay connected to us and make your profile stand out along the way.
Why be a tutor?
There are lots of reasons why you should become a tutor with us. Not only do we give tutors full reign on how much they charge, but we also let the tutor set their own time schedule. So, if you are looking to tutor part-time or full-time, we’ll be happy to work with you. We are open to all kinds of tutors, so apply whether you are an experienced tutor or just starting out. We also don’t limit you to one subject or discipline, so if you have talents in different subject areas, you are more than welcome to apply as a tutor for both!
It goes without saying that tutoring is a rewarding career to undertake. Think about how much your own teachers have helped you in life. So, why would you not want to share the knowledge you’ve built up over the years with keen and eager students? At Tutor House we have both the best tutors and the best students, making the experience fantastic for all involved.
Guidelines
Typically, tutors will have a degree in a relevant field to the subjects they are teaching in, AND some tutoring experience already under their belt. This is what students and parents ideally look for in a tutor, so having these already puts you in a great position going forward.
However, along with a fantastic profile, our minimum requirement is that you are at least enrolled in a university (i.e., you have obtained all your A-Levels) or you have an alternative qualification in the subject you are teaching, such as a graduate certificate, CELTA qualification etc. If that’s you, a lot of our students are going through similar experiences to what you have just been through and will be looking for tutors like you to give them up-to-date advice.
It’s good to be familiar with the UK educational system too as our students are predominately studying from UK boards, such as AQA and OCR and all our tutors need to be DBS checked in order to teach students in person. Contact our educational support team who can provide you with information on how to secure a DBS check in the most affordable and time efficient way.
What are the next steps?
If becoming a tutor sounds like something you are interested in, the next steps are the application process, getting you trained to use our platform, and to help you find students. Continue reading to find out the seven stages on how to become the ultimate Tutor House tutor.
1. Fill out our online application form
First you need to fill out our application form. Download the Tutor House handbook and read through it to find out more about us. Once you do, fill out the form and upload a photo. For photos we need headshots, ideally with a white background. The higher quality your photo is the more your profile will stand out to us and prospective students.
The profile section is the most important part, this is what will be viewed first by the students and allows them to make a judgement about if you are the right tutor for them. So, make sure it has a good amount of detail about your background in tutoring, qualifications, and why you think your teaching style will suit them best. If these points aren’t addressed in your profile, you may not be invited to the next stage.
You can also create a video, this is not compulsory on our website, so it's completely up to you whether you’d prefer to make one or not. However, it is advisable that you do, as it is a great way of showcasing what an amazing tutor you are and can help students connect more to who is behind the profile they are looking at. Videos can be done under Vimeo or YouTube, however the best and easiest way to do it is on the Tutor House platform.
Once your profile has been reviewed, you will need to send all relevant documents and certificates to be reviewed by our Tutor Manager, as well as at least two references, this can be from past tutees or someone you have known in a professional setting. Sign up here, to fill out our application form.
2. Complete the Q&A
Once your application has been viewed and approved, then you have been accepted to be a tutor with us and can move onto the next stages, hooray!
Next, a member of the Tutor House team will send you a few questions to answer about yourself. A couple of question examples could be: What do you enjoy most about tutoring? Can you provide any tips for students looking to improve their independent studies? These questions help us become more familiar with you and allow us to find you suitable students.
The email will also include relevant information on being a tutor on our site, such as when to attend training, our whiteboard tutorial, how to set up a stripe account (more on this later).
3. Attend training
Our training sessions are very important to us and our tutors. They are a good way for tutors to meet the Tutor House team and find out more about how we can help them. Training sessions are held twice every week, Tuesdays at 5.30pm and Thursdays at 1.30pm, tutors need to attend one of these training sessions, on a date that suits them.
In this section, tutors can ask any questions about how Tutor House works, and our Tutor Manager will run through different ways you can find students, provide lessons, and our payment system in detail.
After training, you will be invited to complete a post training quiz, to check that you have received the correct information and are ready to start tutoring!
4. Create a Stripe account
The longest part is over, now it's just the nitty gritty bits, like connecting to your Stripe account. As you would have learnt from training, Stripe is our only payment gateway, so it’s important you get an account set up as soon as possible. Our tutors appreciate Stripe as it offers you a speedy and secure payment system going forward.
It's important you have a bank account in a country compatible with the Stripe system, (you can find this out on their website or by talking to a member of our team). Also remember to link your stripe account to your Tutor House account. Don’t worry if you are unsure on how to do this, it will be explained to you in emails and your training session.
5. Get to know our whiteboard
Tutor House provides its own interactive whiteboard for tutors to conduct their lessons and meet their students. Features on the whiteboard include but are not limited to; audio and file sharing abilities, chat box feature, the ability to record your lessons, share your screen, and download notes and slides. These features help you to provide the best online teaching experience for your students.
6. Connect with students
Once you are a tutor with us, there are multiple different ways you can connect to our students. We provide an online job board, where students regularly request tutors for a specific subject and level, if this applies to you then you can message them directly from the job board. Make sure you have all your notifications on for this as jobs can go quickly!
Another way to find out about what students we have at the moment is by contacting our educational support team. They will let you know if there are any students that suit you. The best way to ensure you get regular lessons is through the free trial calls. This is a 30-minute consultation using our whiteboard where students and tutors can get to know each other. It's a great opportunity for you to impress students with your structure, skills, and experience so that they book more lessons in the future. Students often have a lot of anxiety and hesitancy to commit to lessons, so make sure you ask what their aims and goals are, as well as what they hope to get out of their lessons.
7. Stay supported
Here on the Tutor House blog we regularly update tutors on the latest and most innovative tutoring techniques. As well as advisable guides on how to avoid burnout and effectively engage students remotely.
We love it when tutors get involved too. Through our blog interviews or social media promotions, students can get to know you better and it helps you stand out from the crowd.