All You Need To Know About A Tutor Career

You consider working as a tutor but want to get additional information in this regard before you actually apply for jobs in this field?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you everything you need to know about working as a tutor in the following chapters.

Not only will you learn how much you can make as a tutor, but we will also talk about work-life balance, job satisfaction, prospects, future outlook, educational requirements, duties and much more.

After reading this article, you will have a much better idea of what being a tutor looks like and whether you still want to work in this industry or rather want to go for a different job instead.

Without further ado, let’s get right into it!

What does a Tutor do?

Tutors support school kids and college students during the learning process and make sure that they get every information and training they need to learn as efficiently as possible to pass important exams and to improve overall knowledge.

Responsibilities & Duties of a Tutor

• Traveling to students’ homes
• Supporting students in the learning process
• Ensuring that school kids get proper learning materials
• Answering questions of school kids and students
• Explaining course materials in a different manner
• Finding alternative approaches to solving questions
• Exam preparation workshops
• Encouraging students in case they are down
• Teaching 1 on 1 or in small groups
• Setting goals for students
• Making sure that students have a good time so that they are happy to learn

What a Typical Day of a Tutor looks like?

Tutors often teach students’ at their homes and therefore have to drive to the respective location before they can actually start their work.

After arriving at their students’ homes, tutors unpack all their course materials and make sure that they have everything they need to educate school kids and students in the best possible manner.

After talking to students to figure out what’s going on in their educational life, tutors figure out what’s most important to learn and also set a schedule so that exam preparation can be done as efficiently and successfully as possible.

After doing this kind of organizational work, tutors support their students with homework but also give them further information on the respective topics so that they can really understand what they are doing.

Thus, as a tutor, it is not only important that you have excellent knowledge of the stuff you teach, but you should also have great people skills so that your students trust you and are eager to learn.

Tutor Salary 2023

Tutor salary brackets 2023

Tutor salary 2023 by expert level

Tutor salary by state 2023 (average)

Job Security of Tutors

Tutors have pretty poor job security since they often work self-employed and even if they work for a tutoring company, they are at great risk of getting fired from one day to the other since educational barriers to entry for working as a tutor are pretty low and many people want to work in this field.

In turn, competition is pretty fierce and you may have to worry about losing your job on a regular basis.

Future Outlook of Tutors

Due to the internet and the numerous free course materials out there, the demand for tutors will decrease significantly over the next years since many kids will just study on their own without having a human tutor on their side.

Consequently, many tutors will lose their jobs just a few years from now.

Working Hours of Tutors

Tutors are pretty flexible regarding their working hours.

In fact, many tutors don’t work full-time but rather work on an hourly basis to finance their own studies.

Some pensioners also work as tutors for a few hours per week to make an extra income to be able to pay their bills and working as a tutor is therefore suitable for every age group.

Job Satisfaction of Tutors

While most tutors like teaching their students, they still don’t like overall working conditions since they have to be pretty flexible regarding their working hours while they still don’t make good money from what they are doing and are barely able to cover their expenses.

Promotion Opportunities of Tutors

Tutors have pretty limited promotion opportunities since they will do the same work for many years or even decades without getting the chance of being promoted anytime soon and will just get stuck with what they are doing.

Career Levels of Tutors

• Tutor for school kids
• Tutor for college students
• Senior tutor
• Manager of a tutoring company
• Owner of a tutoring company

Fields and Types of Tutors

• Math tutor
• Language tutor
• Science tutor
• Sports tutor
• Musical tutor
• Arts tutor
• Part-time tutor
• Full-time tutor
• Tutor for school kids
• Tutor for college students

Educational Requirements for Tutors

Tutors don’t need a fancy degree for working in this field.

Instead, you can even start working as a tutor while you are still in school yourself as long as you have excellent knowledge of the course materials and are also smart enough on an emotional level to teach other kids in a successful manner.

How to become a Tutor

1. Inform yourself about the advantages and disadvantages of being a tutor
2. Give educational support within your circle of friends
3. Learn how to teach and build some reputation
4. Create profiles on online tutoring sites
5. Get your first jobs
6. Work hard to make students happy and successful
7. Build a strong personal brand
8. Transit from teaching kids to teaching college students
9. Start your own tutoring company

Character Traits you need as a Tutor

• Patience for students who don’t want to learn
• Persistence helps you achieve progress with your students in the long run
• Patience for difficult parents
• You should be a good listener
• You should be open to critical feedback
• Patience for students who have a bad day
• You should be friendly and reliable
• You should be outgoing
• You should not be afraid to talk in front of people

Tutor Skills

Hard Skills for Tutors

• Excellent knowledge of course materials
• Knowledge of how to get people to do what you want
• Good teaching skills
• Ability to gain the trust of your students
• You should be a good role model for your students
• Expertise in motivating students
• Leadership skills help as well
• You should be good at preparing learning plans
• You should know how the human mind works

Soft Skills for Tutors

• Positivity helps you overcome difficult periods of your tutor career
• Patience for students who are slow learners
• Patience for difficult parents who may try to bring you down
• Confidence helps as well
• You should be a good communicator to explain course materials to students
• Good time management skills help as well
• Multitasking skills help you get things done
• Empathy for students who have a hard time learning
• You should not get discouraged by critical feedback

Exit Options for Tutors

Tutors have pretty limited exit options.

While they can sometimes also work as assistant teachers or as clerks at college, tutors often have a hard time finding jobs outside the education industry.

Tutor – Similar Careers

• Teacher
• Professor
• Childcare worker
• Instructor
• Coach
• Influencer
• School administrator
• Librarian
• Career guidance counselor
• Psychologist
• Social services manager

Tutor Career FAQs

Is working as a tutor physically demanding?

Working as a tutor is not physically demanding since you will just sit on a chair for most of your workday while you explain course materials to students.

Thus, compared to roofers or carpenters who have to work with their hands in a heavy physical manner all day long, you as a tutor will have a rather relaxed time in this regard.

Is working as a tutor mentally demanding?

Working as a tutor can be mentally demanding since you will have to explain complex study materials to students and often really have to stress your brain to understand the course material yourself and also to figure out ways how to explain it to your students.

Is it dangerous to work as a tutor?

Being a tutor is not dangerous at all since you will work in a pretty safe environment and will not be at great risk of suffering from accidents at work compared to truckers or garbage collectors who are at much higher risk in this regard.

How long do tutors stay in their jobs?

Tutors usually don’t stay in their jobs for a long time since many tutors just work part-time to finance their own degrees and get a different job after finishing college.

Is it easy for tutors to find a new job?

Due to the internet and the many free courses out there, parents often no longer rely on tutors but rather support kids on their own to get their homework done and the demand for tutors therefore decreased significantly over the past years and will continue to do so in the future.

Consequently, you may have a hard time finding a job as a tutor just a few years from now since students can find all the information they need for free online.

Is it hard to switch from being a tutor to another field of work?

Since tutors are often pretty specialized and don’t learn many skills important outside the education industry, they often get stuck in this field and have a hard time finding a job in a different industry unless they get lots of additional education.

Do tutors have a high social status?

Tutors have a pretty low social standing.

Even though they help out many students, they are often belittled and have a much lower social status than teachers or professors who are really up there.

Can you help out your family and friends as a tutor?

While you can help you your family and friends by tutoring their kids, you will still not be able to provide as much value as financial analysts who can show people how to invest their money properly or as welders or other people who can fix many things around the home.

Can tutors work remotely?

While tutors are sometimes able to work remotely using video calls, it is still the norm to show up at your student’s home in person and you will therefore have to spend lots of time and money commuting to your clients and back.

Is it easy to find a partner as a tutor?

Since tutors don’t make good money and also suffer from pretty low job security, they often have a hard time finding a partner for a long-term relationship since they are not considered good providers compared to judges or other people who make far more money and also have higher job security and higher social standing.

Do tutors have to work on weekends?

Tutors don’t have to work on weekends in an official manner.

However, many tutors still work during Saturdays or Sundays to make additional money on the side.

Do tutors have to work on holidays?

Tutors also don’t have to work on holidays.

Instead, you can spend those days with your loved ones or also on your favorite hobbies.

Do tutors have to work at nighttime?

Tutors don’t have to work at nighttime.

Instead, they mainly work during the afternoon and come home from work relatively early most of the time.

Do you have to travel as a tutor?

You don’t have to travel as a tutor apart from commuting to your clients’ homes and back.

Thus, while investment bankers and many other people who work in demanding jobs in the corporate world will be on business trips quite often, you as a tutor will be able to spend lots of time with your loved ones at home.

Are tutor pensions good?

Since tutors don’t make good money during their active careers, many of them are also not able to save enough money for retirement and their pensions will often be pretty low.

Are tutor salaries going up?

Tutor salaries have not been going up significantly over the past years since due to the internet and the increasing availability of online learning and free courses in general, students are now able to find everything they need online and don’t need a tutor to explain course materials anymore.

Consequently, many tutors will lose their jobs in the near future and wages will likely drop as well.

Can you have a positive impact on society as a tutor?

Tutors can have a significant positive impact on society since they can help out many students and apart from technical knowledge, they can also teach them how to become a mature and respectful human being to make our society kinder and more empathetic in the long run.

How long does it take to become a tutor?

Since you don’t need to get fancy education, you can start your tutor career while you are still at school as long as you have excellent knowledge of course materials and also know how to explain it to your students in a proper manner.

Is it difficult to become a tutor?

Becoming a tutor is pretty easy since you don’t have to meet fancy formal educational requirements as long as you have a certain expertise in the respective field and also know how to teach students in an efficient manner.

Do you need to be smart to work as a tutor?

While you don’t need to be a genius, you should still have excellent knowledge of course materials and should know the subject you teach by heart so that you can answer all questions of your students and can also provide them with additional information to really understand the topic.

Do tutors have a good work-life balance?

Tutors have pretty decent work-life balance since they usually have free weekends and holidays and also don’t have to work at nighttime, which gives them more than enough time to meet up with their favorite people after work or to spend on their favorite hobbies.

Do tutors have to work many extra hours?

Tutors don’t have to work many extra hours.

While you will have to be quite flexible regarding your working hours and also have to be open to changes according to the wishes and preferences of your clients, you will still just work fixed shifts and will usually know when your workday will end before you even started it and it will therefore be relatively easy for you as a tutor to plan your leisure.

How to maximize your chances of becoming a tutor?

The bigger your expertise in the respective field, the more value you will be able to provide to your students as a tutor and the higher your chances of finding a job in the tutoring industry.

Can tutors work part-time?

Tutors are able to work part-time as well as full-time.

While you might have to work full-time if you want to make a living from a tutoring career, many tutors still only work part-time to finance their degrees and pensioners also sometimes work as tutors to make some money on the side.

Do tutors work indoors or outdoors?

Tutors work indoors for their entire workday and therefore don’t have to worry about adverse weather conditions outdoors as gardeners or facility managers have to do on a regular basis.

What does the workplace of a tutor look like?

Tutors often work at their clients’ homes and teach students all they need to pass their exams in a successful manner.

Thus, you will mainly work with your brain and apart from excellent knowledge of the subject you teach, you should also be good at dealing with people in general to get students to do what you want them to do.

Do you have to look good for working as a tutor?

You don’t have to look good for succeeding as a tutor.

What’s much more important is that you have empathy for your students and that you also have deep knowledge of the course materials you teach.

Is a tutor career beneficial for your private life?

While tutors come home from work pretty early and have enough time to spend with their families, many tutors still don’t make good money and have to worry about losing their jobs quite often.

Thus, tutors are not considered good providers and being a tutor may therefore not be beneficial for your private life since your partner may search for a better deal sooner or later.

Do you need a college degree for becoming a tutor?

You don’t need a college degree for working as a tutor.

Instead, educational requirements are pretty low and sometimes even non-existent and almost everyone can work as a tutor.

However, you should still have lots of expertise regarding the subject you want to teach and should also be good at dealing with people in general to stay happy with your tutor job in the long run.

Do you need to be certified to work as a tutor?

You also don’t need any fancy certifications to work as a tutor.

What’s much more important is that you have all the knowledge you need to teach kids and college students in a proper manner so that you provide enough value and clients get back to you and recommend your services in the long run.

How much does it cost to become a tutor?

Since you don’t necessarily have to get college education for becoming a tutor, you also don’t have to spend lots of money on tuition and other expenses related to college and also don’t have to take on student loan debt as many of your friends might have to do to finance their degrees.

Is being a tutor a good career?

Since tutors don’t make good money while they also have to be quite flexible regarding their working hours and also have to fear losing their jobs on a regular basis, being a tutor cannot be considered a good career from an objective perspective.

Is it easy to start your own business as a tutor?

While it is pretty easy to work self-employed as a tutor since you just need to register at some tutoring sites online and clients will have an easy time booking your services, it will be pretty hard to start your own business in the education industry since competition is pretty fierce and you would have to spend lots of money upfront and your risk of failure would be pretty high as well.

Can tutors teach themselves?

Tutors can teach themselves all they need to succeed at what they are doing as long as they spend lots of time studying and improving their expertise in the area and the subjects they want to teach.

Do tutors make good money?

Even though tutors can make decent money at college age compared to other student jobs, they still don’t make good money compared to the average person out there and many full-time tutors really struggle to make a decent living from what they are doing.

Is it ever too late to become a tutor?

While it is never too late to become a tutor, you will still forget many things you learned in school and the older you get, the more you will forget and the harder it will be for you to work as a tutor in a successful manner.

Do tutors have to quit their careers early?

Since tutors don’t have to work in a hard physical manner, most tutors don’t suffer from serious health problems related to their jobs and while fallers and other people who work in a hard physical manner often have to quit their careers early, tutors can often work until they reach official retirement age.

What is the hardest thing about working as a tutor?

The hardest part about being a tutor is that you have many different students and all of them will learn at a different pace and will also have different character types.

Consequently, you always have to adjust your style of communication and your ambitions to the respective student and this can be really challenging if you don’t have great people skills.

Can you provide for your family by working as a tutor?

Since tutors don’t make good money from what they are doing, many full-time tutors are not able to provide for their families and their spouse may have to work as well.

In turn, kids may not get the attention they need and may get neglected in the long run.

Will tutors suffer from old-age poverty?

Since tutors don’t make great money and are not able to save and invest enough money for retirement age, many tutors suffer from significant old-age poverty and the unpleasant things that often come along with it.

Can tutors retire early?

Tutors are not able to retire early most of the time and have to work until official retirement age to be able to pay their bills and don’t get into financial trouble.

Do tutors get a fixed or variable salary?

Tutors mainly receive a variable salary that is greatly dependent on the number of jobs and students they have.

Thus, the more you work, the more money you will make as a tutor since you will often work on an hourly basis and will often not have full-time contracts.

Can you get rich as a tutor?

If you really want to get wealthy or even rich, you should not work as an employed tutor but rather start your own education business or work as a programmer instead.

Do tutors need a second job?

Tutors often need to work a second job since their hourly wages are rather poor and most tutors also just work on an hourly basis and have to deal with huge income swings instead of having a full-time contract.

Do you get training as a tutor?

Tutors don’t get any training at all. Instead, you will learn most things on the job and it will be on you to really hone your craft so that you can provide enough value to your students in the long run.

Do you get sick pay as a tutor?

Since tutors mainly work on an hourly basis and don’t have long-term contracts, most tutors only get paid if they show up at work and in case you get sick, you will not have any income and should therefore build an emergency fund that you can use during bad times when you are not able to make an income.

Do tutors have a high level of responsibility?

While tutors can improve the learning behavior of their students and also make sure that they pass important exams, tutors still don’t have the same high level or responsibility compared to pharmacists or nurse practitioners whose mistakes may put the lives of patients on the line on a daily basis.

Can tutors work abroad?

Tutors can work all over the world.

However, working conditions and salaries greatly differ across countries and regions and you should therefore not expect to find good work in a foreign country as a tutor but rather apply your knowledge at home where you have a much better understanding of the job market and also have a much easier time communicating with your students.

Is it stressful to work as a tutor?

Working as a tutor is not stressful since you will just sit next to your students and don’t have to deal with significant time pressure.

Instead, you can spend your workday in a rather relaxed manner.

Is it boring to work as a tutor?

Being a tutor may become boring if you are not passionate about teaching your students.

In such a case, you may get demotivated with what you are doing in the long run since many tasks you do as a tutor will have a repetitive nature.

Is being a tutor hard?

Working as a tutor is not hard since you don’t have to work in a heavy physical manner and while you will have to use your brain to understand and teach course materials in a proper manner, you will still not have to deal with lots of pressure and will also have more than enough time to recover from work.

Are tutors at risk of burnout?

Since tutors are able to spend their workdays in a rather relaxed manner, most tutors are not at great risk of suffering from burnout or other mental problems related to their jobs.

Is there a dress code for tutors?

Tutors don’t have to comply with a fixed dress code.

Instead, they can wear whatever they want while financial controllers and other people who work in fancy office jobs will often have to wear conservative clothing like suits or fancy dresses.

What kind of tutors are paid the most?

The more experience you have in the education industry, the more value you can provide to your students and the more money you can make from your tutoring career in the long run.

What percentage of tutors are women?

While 73% of all tutors are women, only 27% are men.

Thus, the tutoring industry is still dominated by women and this trend will likely also continue in the future since more women than men aspire to working in tutoring jobs.

Do I need a mentor to succeed as a tutor?

You don’t need a mentor to succeed as a tutor.

What’s much more important is that you have excellent knowledge of the subject you want to teach and that you also have great people skills to get enough jobs to stay in the game in the long run.

Do tutors have a high life expectancy?

Tutors have pretty decent life expectancy since they work in a pretty safe environment and their risk of suffering from serious accidents or incidents at work is pretty low.

Do tutors suffer from sleeping problems?

Since tutors don’t have to work in the late evening or at nighttime, most tutors are able to maintain a steady sleeping pattern and don’t suffer from serious sleeping problems compared to barkeepers or singers who often have to work during nighttime and don’t get enough healthy sleep.

What states are best for working as a tutor?

Tutor salaries are pretty similar across states.

Thus, you should choose a region where there are many schools and colleges so that the demand for tutoring services will be high while living costs are still low enough so that you don’t get into financial trouble and can pay your bills.

Who do tutors work with?

Tutors work with many different school kids and students.

Hence, it is important that you have excellent people skills and are also friendly and patient so that your students feel comfortable in your presence and are eager to learn.

Is working as a tutor cool?

Working as a tutor is not considered cool by the majority of the general public.

However, you should still not choose your job according to what’s cool but rather rely on your own intuition and judgement.

Can you start a side hustle as a tutor?

Tutors can make money on the side in many different ways.

For instance, you can start a YouTube channel where you teach your audience how to solve all sorts of educational problems and can monetize your audience in the long run.

Do you have to be creative as a tutor?

Being creative helps you succeed as a tutor in the long run since the more creative you are, the better you will be at explaining things to your students so that they really understand what you are talking about.

Do tutors suffer from being overweight?

Since tutors don’t work in a hard physical manner, they also don’t burn lots of calories at work and are therefore at great risk of suffering from being overweight.

How employable are tutors?

Due to the many free courses on the internet right now and the increasing popularity of e-learning, tutors are not that employable anymore and job prospects may become even worse in the future.

Are tutors happy with their jobs?

Most tutors are not fully happy with their jobs since they have to deal with lots of insecurity related to losing their jobs and also don’t make good money from what they are doing.

Is working as a tutor exciting?

Being a tutor is not that exciting since you will just spend your workday in a pretty quiet environment and will just support kids and students will their homework.

Can you have a positive impact on our environment as a tutor?

Since you will mainly focus on improving the knowledge and the grades of your students, your positive impact on our environment will be pretty limited as a tutor, even though you might be able to raise awareness of our environmental problems from time to time.

What are the pros and cons of working as a tutor?

If you are still interested in becoming a tutor, you should also have a look at additional pros and cons of a tutor career.

Sources

https://www.statista.com/statistics/228124/people-in-households-with-a-tutoring-service-usa/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/967544/after-school-tutoring-services-global-market-size/

Interviews and own research.

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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