Five Great Advantages of Being a Tutor

Whether you’re an IT expert, an avid cook or a professional pianist, you have a skill you can share as a tutor. Every day, thousands of people in your local area search for personal tutors to help them meet their learning goals. They range from those wanting to expand their skill set for personal and professional reasons to students needing homework help. One-on-one tutoring is a rewarding pursuit with many benefits.

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

Henry Adams - 19th century academic

Why not seize this opportunity to become a private home or online tutor? You could be a mentor for those who need help and pass your knowledge on to those looking to learn new skills. Perhaps the idea of becoming a tutor has already crossed your mind, but you haven’t taken the plunge.

Here are just 5 great reasons to start tutoring today:

• wed your passion to your job
• enjoy your workday
• make an impactful addition to your Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• launch yourself into business
• take charge of your earnings

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5 Great Advantages of Starting a Tutoring Business

1. Tutoring is A Great Addition to Your CV

Being a private tutor requires a multitude of transferable skills that demonstrate your ability to manage, motivate and mediate. Having these skills and the references to back them up makes you more employable. Mentoring shows your ability to put your qualifications into practice in the world of work.

As a tutor, you are expected to meet your students' high expectations and achieve tangible improvements in their performance. Often, students seek a teacher to help solve a problem they find particularly difficult or help them catch up in class. As such, you will have to be a patient and engaging educator, creating a learning environment where students feel relaxed and are able to learn effectively.

Since you’re not your pupil’s usual teacher, you will initially lack knowledge of their academic capabilities. It is your responsibility to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and preferences and help them adjust to changes in the learning environment and teaching style. You will also have to adapt your own techniques to their needs and wants.

Above all, being a private tutor is about building strong relationships based on trust and respect. This ability to connect and collaborate effectively is essential in all walks of life. For that reason alone, tutoring jobs make a wonderful addition to your CV.

2. Expand Your Business Network

If you decide to join a network of tutors with higher visibility, such as Superprof, the chances are you will come across people in the same field as you. Whether you're a physics tutor, Spanish tutor or creative writing wizard, this kind of professional network is invaluable for building relationships. You can exchange valuable information and connect with other professionals for future job prospects.

Having an extensive professional network is often perceived positively and can open many doors via word of mouth. It can also provide a support network among like-minded people able to encourage and enrich each other.

3. Tutoring: Combine Your Job with Your Passion

School students and professionals have regular timetables but less flexibility in their schedules. Still, sharing your skills and knowledge can be a very enriching experience, even after school hours and with those who only have evening availability. Why not spend that time doing what you love and passing on your hobbies to others?

You can teach someone how to fish, play poker, or write a captivating story. Everyone has something to learn. In providing instruction and learning support, you’re making a meaningful difference in someone else's life. You help solve problems and give learners the tools to progress and succeed.

The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Steve Jobs

The positive results you achieve together are reciprocal; they represent your own success and will be a true source of happiness and self-fulfilment. What could be better than seeing your student making progress and building their confidence under your tuition? If you enjoy building new relationships, engaging in conversation, and rewarding challenges, being a private tutor is for you!

Being passionate enough to become a home tutor isn't everything, but it’s 90% of the job. But being a passionate teacher will always make you more effective than someone teaching out of necessity.

It is also very important to know how to impart knowledge. There are many online teacher-training courses available, including those from Superprof tutors. There are also more career-oriented qualifications for undergraduates and postgraduates.

4. Private Tutoring: A Meaningful Increase in Your Income

Whether you’re a student, in between jobs, or just looking for work in your spare time, private tutoring is a great way to supplement your income. Whatever skills you have to pass on to others—be it linguistics, computer technology, music or mathematics, tutoring jobs offer a rewarding and enjoyable way to increase your income and share your knowledge with others.

Do you know there is a growing demand for tutors in Singapore? According to the Household Expenditure Survey by the Department of Statistics, Singaporean households spent S$1.8 billion on tuition in 2023, up from S$1.4 billion in 2018. On average, families invested S$104.80 per month in tuition—clear evidence of the sector’s growth and importance.

This trend presents a wonderful opportunity for aspiring tutors to begin a career in this field. In fact, thousands of students search Superprof every day for 1-on-1 lessons at home or online tutoring via webcam. And beyond the monetary benefits, tutoring allows you to meet new people, share common interests and make students feel valued by helping learners achieve their goals.

5. Flexibility of Time

One of the biggest advantages of tutoring is the flexibility it offers. When compared to other professions, tutoring allows you to work according to your schedule. This autonomy allows tutors to choose how many hours to teach and how much to charge, and when to take time off. With the rise of online tutoring, you can extend the flexibility even further—tutors can take sessions in early mornings, late afternoons, or at night, suiting their schedule and other commitments.

One benefit is that flexible working prevents tutors from suffering from burnout, allowing tutors to take breaks as and when they need and helping them maintain their energy and enthusiasm for the job at hand. Tutors have greater control over their personal and professional lives, promoting a healthy work-life balance and enabling them to flourish in their careers.

How to Grow Your Tutoring Career on Superprof

Have these five great reasons to become a private tutor convinced you to start teaching? There's no need to wait; sign up for tutoring jobs on Superprof. You'll find this platform full of friendly students in your local area and online who are keen to work with you.

Here is how you go about building a tutoring career on Superprof.

Register yourself on the Superprof site

Register on the Superprof website and create a profile including as many details as possible. Once you have registered yourself on Superprof, you can start your tutoring business, helping students avail the service of experienced tutors like you.

Create a Tutor Profile

A good profile should include:

Choose Your Subject

Select the subject you want to teach. It could be a single subject, or you could opt for multiple subjects if you're equally skilled in them.

Price Your Lessons Strategically

Choose your tutoring rates strategically. You can begin with slightly lower rates to attract the initial few students. Once you have established a reputation for yourself and received good feedback, you can increase your rates.

Set Your Location

Don't forget to indicate whether you prefer one-on-one or online lessons. Also, make sure to set your availability as well. If you plan to conduct online classes, you can hold them via Zoom and Google Meet.

Get Your First Students

When students reach out to you, seeing your profile, respond as soon as possible. Remember to keep your tone professional and friendly. Also, offer a free trial class so students get to experience your teaching style. Doing this will make your tutor profile more appealing to prospective students.

Collect Testimonials

Positive reviews are necessary for you to build a strong reputation as a tutor. After all, word-of-mouth works like magic. Once you have successfully tutored a batch of students, encourage them to leave honest feedback and review their learning experience with you. These reviews will boost your credibility and greatly accelerate your tutoring career.

Become a Tutor and Work for Yourself

The biggest advantage of private tutoring is having total control and flexibility over your job, whether it is the rates you charge, your schedule, or your place of work. Most sessions take place at a tutee's home, but it's up to you to select your environment so you don't waste time and money on travel. You could also teach at your own house or an agreed-upon, neutral location like a café, library or in a park on a beautiful sunny day.

Why not advertise small group lessons and start a study group to earn more money per hour? Remember that people will expect a lower rate if the class is not one-to-one. And technology now makes it possible for you to teach all over the world from the comfort of your living room. Nothing says you're restricted to students in Singapore; the world is your classroom!

1. Set Your Own Rates

In giving private tuition, you take charge of your own income. You decide your hourly rates and how much time to dedicate to your tutoring job. In setting your rates, you should consider;

1. Your financial needs
2. Competition in your subject area
3. Educational qualifications
4. Professional credentials
5. Tutoring experience

2. Work Around Your Studies

Many students combine their studies with part-time jobs in the service sector, pulling pints or waiting tables. These jobs are appealing to students because of their flexibility and part-time nature, similar to tutoring jobs. However, these jobs don't pay so much. In contrast, part-time tutoring jobs are infinitely more rewarding, with the average rate for private tutoring ranging between SGD25-80 an hour (depending on your subject).

It is this significant difference in hourly wage that makes this job so interesting for students looking to make efficient use of their time.

Beyond that, tutoring adds to a candidate's CV, making private tutoring jobs attractive propositions for students wishing to trade the café for home.

3. Take Pleasure in Your Work

The transfer of knowledge is what makes us human. Part of the benefit of tutor jobs is the joy you feel in sharing your knowledge and watching your students grow. Perhaps you’ve just seen your student pass their biology exam with flying colours. Maybe they’re playing their first piece of music on guitar without your help.

4. Foster Your Own Tutoring Style

Seeing the tangible effects of your work makes you feel proud and gives you an incentive to further develop your skills. Based on your own school experience, you’ll be aware of how teaching styles and learning techniques vary from teacher to teacher and student to student. Sometimes they create a perfect match, but at other times they might conflict.

Teaching is all about approachability, understanding and diplomacy. When you're alone with your student, you have complete freedom in how to approach the lesson and which learning methods to use. These will vary based on pupils' age and experience, as well as their level of educational attainment. You should also consider their character and personality, and don't forget that some kids learn faster than others.

Tips to Succeed as a Tutor

A successful tutor is not someone who is simply knowledgeable, but also by their ability to understand their students' strengths and limitations and explain concepts clearly and interestingly. To become a successful tutor, you must constantly and dynamically adapt your teaching methods according to the requirements of your students. It is sometimes a case of trial and error, which often becomes a meaningful process for both teacher and pupil.

Therefore, while there is no magic recipe for the perfect class, you can still follow some basic steps to increase your chances of success.

• Be prepared in advance to tailor each lesson to the pupil.
• Be patient, supportive, and understanding, and build your student's confidence and trust.
• To keep lessons fresh, alternate work with regular breaks.

For information transmission to be successful, it must always be organised. Managing your time efficiently is the key to any tutoring business. In posting your tutor jobs Singapore ad online or around your local community, you are taking your work schedule into your own hands. That demands time management skills.

Make sure prospective students are aware of your schedule by listing your working hours on your tutor ad. Bear in mind that limiting your working hours may limit your chances of finding students. Different groups will have different schedules as well. At university, students might have flexible, but non-regular schedules.