“It is easier for a tutor to command than to teach.”

John Locke, Philosopher

Pros and Cons of Working as a Tutor

You think about becoming a tutor? Great!

However, before you finally go for it, make sure to check out this article since I show you all the pros and cons of being a tutor I experienced myself in the past when I worked as a tutor for many years.

Tutor Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Tutor

1. You can work with children of all ages
2. Tutors may also assist college kids
3. You can improve your people skills
4. Working as a tutor can be fulfilling
5. You can earn some extra money
6. Some people even work as full-time tutors
7. You can start your own tutoring business
8. Tutors don’t have any time pressure
9. You can also give your students emotional support
10. Being a tutor is more than just improving grades
11. Working as a tutor can be fun
12. You will be able to make many new friends in the long run
13. Parents will be thankful for your work
14. You can contribute to a better future for your mentees
15. Being a tutor is not that stressful
16. You can work indoors as a tutor
17. Especially nice if you are a student or already retired
18. You don’t need a college degree in most cases

You can work with children of all ages

One advantage of being a tutor is that you can work with children of many different ages.

In fact, if you have many different clients, chances are that you will assist elementary school kids as well as kids that finish high school pretty soon.

While it can be challenging to teach all those different age groups since they need different learning approaches and ways how to learn in general, it can also be pretty interesting to see how different people learn and what they need to be successful.

Tutors may also assist college kids

While most tutors help kids that are still at school, others also help them even at college level.

While teaching approaches will be completely different, it can still be fun to also have college students as clients since you can talk to them more seriously and can also have pretty interesting discussions with them.

It will also be more challenging to tutor university students since the education level is much higher in school and you will also have to learn and to figure out some things to teach this older generation in the best possible manner.

You can improve your people skills

Another upside to working as a tutor is that you can also greatly improve your people skills.

Since you will work with many people from different age groups and your clients will also change rather frequently, you will get the opportunity to try out many different learning approaches.

You will also have the chance to introduce new concepts and to see how your mentees will react to them.

If you work as a tutor for a few years, you will get a pretty good impression of what drives people and how you can get them to achieve their best possible performance.

This will be a quite valuable skill, not only for tutoring but also for various other parts of life since you will just be much more successful if you understand how the mind of people really works and what really drives them to do certain things.

Working as a tutor can be fulfilling

Many people also find meaning by working as a tutor.

Since you can help many kids to improve their learning behavior, those kids will often get better in school.

In turn, chances are that these kids will also be happier since the educational pressure will become lower and they may also be able to spend more time with their friends in the long run.

It can also be pretty nice to look in a kid’s face and see the joy that comes along with having good grades.

In general, working with kids can be a real pleasure and can give you real purpose while many other people who work as financial controllers and in other office jobs often don’t find real purpose in what they are doing.

Hence, especially if you currently work in a job you don’t like at all and don’t see any meaning in it, quitting your job and becoming a tutor may just give you more happiness and fulfillment in the long run.

You can earn some extra money

Most people only work part-time as a tutor.

In fact, it can be really nice to earn some additional money besides your actual day job.

You can work as a tutor even if you are just in high school yourself if you are really good at school and want to make some extra bucks in the afternoon.

Some people even work as full-time tutors

While many tutors only work a few hours a week as a tutor, there are also people out there who do it as a full-time job.

In our current state of the world, there are even platforms where you can apply for a career as a full-time tutor.

Thus, while tutoring had only been an opportunity to make some play money, it can now become a serious career.

You can start your own tutoring business

Another benefit of becoming a tutor is that you also don’t have to work for someone else.

If you have some entrepreneurial spirit and are also willing to do all the work that comes along with it, you can just start your own tutoring business and have employees who will do the actual work for you.

Over time, you may be able to build a really great business and may even earn much more money compared to normal tutors who just work as employees.

Tutors don’t have any time pressure

By working as a tutor, you will also not have too much time pressure.

You will just sit down next to your students and watch them doing their homework.

Sure, you will give them some tips and tricks along the way, yet you will not be in a rush and being a tutor is much more relaxed compared to many other jobs since you will not have any strict time limits to do your work.

Instead, you will just help kids in the long run and if you don’t manage to do certain tasks that specific day, you can just continue the next time.

You can also give your students emotional support

As a tutor, you will also be responsible for the overall well-being of your students.

This also includes giving them emotional support in bad times.

For instance, if a student reports to you about bad grades and how sad he or she is about it, it will be your responsibility to build them up again and to give them hope for the future.

Being a tutor is more than just improving grades

In general, being a tutor is more than just improving the grades of your students.

Good tutors also work with their students on a mental level since mental stability is key to success in various parts of life.

Hence, if you see that something really bothers your mentees, you should talk with them about it.

In the long run, the grades and also the level of happiness of your students will only increase if you improve their overall conditions and you can only do this by understanding what is really going on in their lives.

Thus, you will also be pretty important for your students and can make a real difference for them as a tutor.

Working as a tutor can be fun

Many people also really enjoy working as a tutor.

Especially in case you liked school pretty much, chances are that you will also like the work of a tutor since you can do all the tasks that you have already done in school again.

This may let you remember some nice things during your own time at school and can also make you a little bit nostalgic since you will think back to all the good times.

You will be able to make many new friends in the long run

Especially among your older students, you will also be able to make some really good friends.

Since you will mentor many different students at the same time, at least if you work as a full-time tutor, you will also be able to meet many different people.

While some may not share the same interests and hobbies with you, you will be able to make really deep connections with others and some of them will therefore remain your friends even after you quit tutoring them sooner or later.

Parents will be thankful for your work

Many parents will also be quite thankful for what you are doing for their kids.

Especially if you are really good at what you are doing and are also willing to work hard to improve the grades of their kids, parents will really appreciate you and will also talk well about you in front of their friends.

In turn, chances are that you will get many new clients sooner or later who heavily rely on your support.

You can contribute to a better future for your mentees

In general, you can not only improve the overall results in school of your students, but you can also improve their overall chances in life as a tutor.

If you have time, make sure that you also teach them some additional things apart from school.

This can mean giving them higher level of confidence or also teaching them some empathy towards others.

What you can teach your students depends on their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Yet, it is important to realize that you will become a really important person for them in the long run and that they will trust you quite a lot.

In turn, make sure that you also teach them how to be successful in life in general and don’t focus solely on improving their grades.

Being a tutor is not that stressful

Many tutors also report that their work is also not that stressful at all.

In fact, many tutors have a pretty relaxed life and are barely stressed at all from what they are doing.

If you do it right, you can just let the kids do most of the work and only step in if they do something wrong or if you have a better idea of how to do things more efficiently.

You can work indoors as a tutor

You will also have the privilege to work indoors as a tutor.

While many other people will have to work outdoors in the rain, snow or also during periods of extremely high temperatures, you will be the one who will be protected and can even enjoy air conditioning, heating or other amenities to make your life as a tutor as comfortable as possible.

Especially nice if you are a student or already retired

Working as a tutor is especially suitable for you in case you are a college student or a retiree.

Both groups will often need additional money to pay their bills and also have more than enough experience to teach younger kids.

You don’t need a college degree in most cases

You also don’t need a college degree for working as a tutor most of the time.

If you only teach high school kids, finishing high school will be enough.

Sure, if you also want to tutor college kids, you should have a degree in the respective or in a similar major yourself.

However, if you only teach the rather young generation, you will not need any fancy education and most people in society who finished high school will be able to be a decent tutor.

Now that we talked about all the highlights of being a tutor, it is time to talk about all the downsides that come along with it.

Disadvantages of Working as a Tutor

1. Tutors don’t make really good money
2. You will not have long-term contracts most of the time
3. Many tutors need a second job
4. You have to be flexible as a tutor
5. Some kids will just not improve in school
6. Parents can be difficult
7. You may have to commute
8. Working as a tutor will take away leisure
9. You may have to work on weekends as a tutor
10. Children may not like you
11. You can get fired pretty soon
12. Questionable job prospects for the future
13. Tutoring may become boring in the long run

Tutors don’t make really good money

One problem with being a tutor is that you will not make that much money compared to investment bankers and many other people who make significantly more on average.

Sure, you will often be able to earn a decent hourly wage.

Yet, most people just work part-time as a tutor and this will not be enough to cover their costs most of the time.

Even if you work full-time as a tutor, chances are that you will not be able to afford to buy your own home or to afford any other luxury since your income will just be too low for that.

You will not have long-term contracts most of the time

Many tutors also don’t have long-term contracts. In fact, some tutors even don’t have contracts at all.

They just work on an hourly basis for their clients and in case their clients don’t need them anymore, they will just search for new clients.

Consequently, job security will be almost non-existent as a tutor and you constantly have to fear financial insecurity.

Many tutors also have a hard time getting a mortgage since banks know about their circumstances and are not willing to give them a loan.

Many tutors need a second job

In extreme cases, even full-time tutors need a second job to pay their bills.

Imagine you come home from your tutoring job in the evening and still have to work as a barkeeper or in other jobs on a regular basis.

Chances are that you will get tired pretty soon and you should really ask yourself whether you still want to become a tutor or go for another career path in the long run.

You have to be flexible as a tutor

Some parents will also change plans quite frequently and this means that you will also have to be quite flexible as a tutor.

For instance, you might have a tutoring lesson scheduled for tomorrow.

In the evening, parents of the respective kid may call you and tell you that their kid is sick and that the lesson tomorrow will not take place.

This can not only be quite annoying, but you also lose income from those spontaneous changes.

Some kids will just not improve in school

You should also not expect too much from your tutoring job.

While some kids will learn quite fast, others will just have serious difficulties to improve.

In fact, some children may just not improve at all and you should make sure that their learning disabilities will not frustrate you since you will experience this quite often during your tutoring career.

Parents can be difficult

Another downside to working as a tutor is that parents can also be quite difficult in some cases.

While most parents will really enjoy your work, others will just not like you or not trust you at all.

They will also often look you over your shoulder and if they see just minor things they don’t like about your teaching methods, they may interfere or even fire you.

Hence, be prepared that you will have to deal with those difficult people sooner or later and that you are mentally prepared for extensive discussions in this regard.

You may have to commute

Some of your clients may also at the other end of your city and this means that you may have to commute for quite a long time to their homes.

Not only will this cost you additional time that you could spend on other things, but it will also cost you additional money for fuel.

Working as a tutor will take away leisure

In general, by working as a tutor, you will also trade time for money.

If you work as a tutor for many hours a week, you will just have less leisure and you should make sure that you are willing to make this tradeoff, especially if we are talking about tutoring beside your day job where you might make enough money to survive even without the money from your tutoring job.

You may have to work on weekends as a tutor

Another disadvantage of becoming a tutor is that you might also have to work on weekends.

Some kids will just be too busy during the week and may only have time for your tutoring lessons on Saturday and Sunday.

If this is the case, you may have to work while many other people will just enjoy their leisure with their families and friends.

Children may not like you

In some cases, children may also just not like you at all. If this is the case, it will be really hard for you to tutor those kids since you have to be on a similar personal level and you also have to be respected by your mentee.

If this is not the case, the grades of your students will just not improve since they will have a natural tendency not to trust you.

You can get fired pretty soon

If the grades of your students don’t improve, you may also get fired sooner or later.

Parents may just quit the tutoring agreement and search for a tutor that is better suited for this job in their eyes.

Consequently, you will never have any job security and will always have to fear getting fired as a tutor, which can be pretty annoying and exhausting if you urgently have to rely on your income as a tutor.

Questionable job prospects for the future

While very good tutors may always be needed, many average tutors may also lose their jobs in the future.

Many kids can now learn directly from the internet.

For instance, there are numerous good educational videos on YouTube where children can learn everything they need to know to improve their grades without the need of having a tutor.

In turn, the overall demand for tutors will just decline in the long run.

Tutoring may become boring in the long run

While some people really love working as a tutor, others just get really bored about it in the long run.

Thus, you should not only be in the game to make some money, but you should really enjoy your work as a tutor to stay motivated for many years.

Top 10 Being a Tutor Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become a Tutor?

I hope I had been able to show you all the advantages and disadvantages of being a tutor with this article.

Now that you got all the information you need, it is on you to make your final decision regarding whether working as a tutor will be the right way to go for you or if you rather want to go for a different profession.

You still want to become a tutor? Make sure to also get detailed information on salaries, job prospects, future outlook, educational requirements, work-life balance, duties and job satisfaction of tutors.

Also make sure to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of working as a babysitter

Advantages and disadvantages of working as a car salesman

Advantages and disadvantages of working as a taxi driver

Sources

https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/tutor/united-states

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutor

https://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Tutor

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of how a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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