Looking to Become a Successful Tutor? Top Qualities of Online Tutors

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Introduction:

Exemplifying certain personality traits can greatly promote your success when meeting with students as an online tutor. The below approach has helped me to be more successful in working with many students across a wide range of subjects.

Knowledgeable:

Ultimately, being knowledgeable about the subject matter that you are tutoring is the primary skillset required for being successful on Wyzant. Other traits certainly impact your success, but in order for these other qualities to matter, you have to be knowledgeable in your subject areas. Check out available subjects on Wyzant to see what you can tutor on the platform.

Not only is it important to know the material well, but you also need to be able disseminate this information in a digestible format. There are some amazingly intelligent people in the world that are incredible at what they do, but some of these people are not effective teachers. As a tutor, you must have both qualities – personal knowledge of the material and the ability to teach the subject in a way that resonates well with the student.

Professionalism:

No matter how close in age you are to your clients or how much you feel like you’ve established friendships with them, remember that being a tutor is ultimately a professional relationship. Being on time, dressing professionally, and responding quickly to client inquiries/communication are all key elements to serving tutoring clients in a professional manner.

Professionalism: Always using a professional tone with clients (even those whom are long-term clients) ensures that you maintain credibility and trust at all times.

It is important to maintain the same level of professionalism with all clients regardless of how long you have worked with a client. I have long-term clients that I know very well and consider myself to be friends with. That being said, I still approach these lessons with the same level of professionalism as any other client from a punctuality and response time perspective.

Encouraging:

When working with a lot of students, unfortunately, there are times when students become discouraged or frustrated with their studies. As a tutor, it is not only important to support students by knowing the subject matter well but also by providing words of encouragement to inspire students to keep going. Even if students are in a positive working mindset, it is still important to offer encouragement to keep them motivated and going strong. My students always appreciate genuine encouragement and positive feedback. I typically notice a positive uptick in productivity once students hear these words.

It is important to be genuine when providing words of encouragement. Students can sense when you are being disingenuous, which will undermine your credibility. For this reason, I congratulate students when they correctly answer a question, or I tell them that they were on the right track with a question when they actually were. Remember, as a tutor, you are not only a knowledge expert, but you are also the student’s “coach.” Providing encouragement and positive motivation is part of the coach’s role.

Organized:

Being organized as a tutor is paramount to your success. Always having an accurate picture of your schedule is incredibly important so that you can provide up-to-date time windows to students who request when you are free. Taking this approach can help to maximize your free time and avoid double-booking students.

Organization: Staying organized not only allows for optimized lesson scheduling, but it also makes for a better first impression with students.

Likewise, it is important to always have a handle on what lessons you have committed to and to always ensure that you join lessons on time. In this way, being organized overlaps with your professionalism as a tutor. My approach for ensuring that I always stay on top of my lesson commitments is immediately scheduling lessons with the Wyzant mobile app as soon as a student confirms a time slot. This way, I always have the latest view of my schedule available and do not forget about any previously scheduled lessons with students.

While being organized with respect to lesson scheduling is critical, it is also to remain organized during lessons as well. For example, from a timing and planning perspective, if a student has booked a specific amount of time, it is important to try to match desired lesson progress with the length of student’s requested time slot. That being said, some students often overestimate the amount of work that can be done in a certain amount of time, so it is important to set appropriate expectations while maintaining a lesson pace that balances sufficient progress with effective student information retention. When the originally scheduled time limit for the lesson has been reached, make sure to check with the student before proceeding longer.

Friendly:

Just like doctors having a good bedside manner, it is important to be friendly and welcoming as a tutor. Establishing strong rapport and relationships with clients is crucial not only for business success but also to encourage student success. Opening up lessons with the right amount of small talk and making students feel comfortable sets the lesson off on a good foot and ensures that students are motivated and ready to work. In general, people prefer working with friendly and outgoing people, so it is important to conduct yourself in a manner that aligns with these qualities.

You want students to want to work with you. One way to accomplish this goal is by being a pleasant and helpful person to talk to. Of course, friendliness alone can only get you so far, and you need the other listed qualities in order to be successful.

Accommodating:

Let’s face it – students’ schedules change. Even worse, students sometimes need to adjust lesson times at the last minute. Sometimes these adjustments are not possible if you have back-to-back lessons or personal commitments planned, but if you can make it happen, accommodating students’ requests will often garner goodwill with students and spur recurring business. It is important to strike a balance between being flexible towards student requests but also not letting students take advantage of your flexibility. I set out to be as flexible as I can be, but when students request new times that conflict with a lesson time that another student already scheduled, I always honor my pre-scheduled commitments.

Calendar Flexibility: Although challenging, being able to accommodate scheduling changes will enable you to drive additional revenue for your tutoring business.

It is also important to spot patterns in student behavior. If last-minute time change requests or cancellations become a regular habit, it is important to talk to the student and remind them of your cancellation policy and your commitments to other students. Check out our Platinum Masterclass for more information on how to handle lesson cancellations and the associated fees.

It can be frustrating when students change an agreed-upon lesson time, but inevitably, this event will happen. Striking the proper balance between being accommodating and pushing students to stick to agreed-upon times (or enforcing cancellation fees) is a delicate balance. When done well though, achieving this balance can be a huge differentiator for you as compared to your competition.

Conclusion:

Being a Wyzant tutor is not an easy task. The qualities listed in this post are typically highly desirable in any job, but possessing them all in a harmonious balance can be a tall order. That being said, many of these traits can be developed and improved by gaining experience working with students. The biggest key to success is putting yourself out there and committing to serving your students and parents as best as you can.