This article originally appeared on the Wyzant Tutor Blog on 8/23/2018.
Replying to opportunities listed on the Jobs board can take a lot of a tutor’s time. Planning ahead by optimizing the info you include in the rest of your profile can make that time more profitable. Students have shared that, when receiving responses from tutors to Jobs board posts, it’s most important to easily be able see that a prospective tutor has the right qualifications…which means a thorough and informative profile goes a very long way.
Here’s a handy checklist of profile details you can update anytime that may help your job applications hit the mark more often.
Don’t be limited by geography
Hands down, the easiest way to grow your reach as a tutor is to become approved to use the Learning Studio so you can begin receiving inquiries from students all across the country.
To learn more about how online lessons look and work, check out the Online tutoring page, which you can find in your Toolkit.
Be picture-perfect
Tutors who have a profile picture tend to receive an average 3x as many student inquiries and replies to job applications than those who don’t. Choosing a recent, clear photograph of yourself helps to reassure students that you are, in fact, a real person, and also helps feel more comfortable with their tutor when it’s time for their lesson. Parents searching for a tutor for young kids tend to value a picture even more, so if you tutor mostly elementary/middle school level subjects, this is especially important. You can change your profile photo any time you want! Just visit the “Photos” section of your dashboard, as seen below.
Include the details
Students receive applications from many tutors, and in a lot of cases don’t have the time necessary to thoroughly peruse each one’s full profile. To really stand out, make sure to include something specific and relevant to each student when you reach out to them from the Jobs page. There are worlds of difference between “Please look at my full profile to learn how I can help,” and “I see you’re struggling with graphing algebraic functions, and with my background as a high school math teacher, I have the experience to help master that concept!”
If the student hasn’t included a lot of information in their request (making it tough to know what they might find relevant), use it as an opportunity! Asking simple, straightforward questions about what they hope to achieve, which specific areas need work, or even when they would like to begin is a great way to show students that you are interested in learning more. It also gives them an incentive to reply to you! Students are far more likely to respond to clarify their request than to an obviously “all-purpose” template.
Get picky
It might sound counterintuitive, but sending out the maximum number of Job applications per day is not necessarily the best way to get students. While you may have a statistician’s advantage in terms of numbers, if those applications don’t result in lessons, you can end up hurting your chances in the long run.
Determining which Jobs are the absolute best fit for your expertise is one of the easiest ways to boost your chances. While the text of the request is certainly a large part of the equation, you should also keep in mind the student’s location/distance from you (as well as their preferred location for lessons), their availability, mentions of multiple subjects, and other smaller details that can move you from good fit to a great fit.
Revisit your subjects
When students search for tutors in a given subject, they’re able to see the specific written descriptions that tutors have chosen to include as part of their profile. Don’t mistake subject descriptions as negligible just because you’ve written a killer Free Response! Succinct and interesting information regarding your experience in a given subject helps students determine if a tutor’s qualifications sync with their goals.
To add written descriptions and subject-specific titles for your subjects, just visit the Subjects page, located on your profile.
Refresh your Free Response
Your Free Response is the most important portion of your profile. Think about making sure your Free Response not only illustrates your expertise and how you’ve helped previous students, but answers larger questions about your tutoring approach, style, and philosophy.
And one more thing: a student who is intrigued by your subject descriptions can easily lose interest if they see that your Free Response contains grammatical errors, references to irrelevant information, or is in a difficult-to-read format. Read more about writing effective versions here.
Ask for student feedback
The more your students convey their satisfaction with your services, the more likely it is that new students will contact you. Any student you have previously worked with can write a review to be posted on your profile, as long as you have worked with them within the past 14 days. You can request reviews from your Students page, located in your “My Business” menu. Keep in mind that each student can only submit one written review for each tutor.
If you worked with a student but did not get a written review within the past 14 days, don’t worry; they can still send a written review to Wyzant Customer Support by email and we can forward it along to the appropriate team for consideration.
Star ratings make a difference too. Students can rate every lesson they take with you, and your average rating is displayed on your profile. It’s a common - and smart - action for tutors to request feedback from their satisfied students.
Set your availability
When a student performs a search, they are asked to select what days/times work best for them. If the student’s availability conflicts with your own - or if you haven’t provided that information at all - your profile may seem less impactful, making it less likely you’ll be approached to schedule a lesson with that student.
You can adjust your schedule anytime on the Availability page on your profile. Keeping it up-to-date will not only limit the frustration that may result from students who request lessons when you’re not available, but also help you to match more closely with a given student’s request, improving your chances.
Update your preferences
Do you prefer to only work with adults? Do kids younger than middle school tend to cause frustration? You have the ability to update your Preferences for the levels/types of students you wish to work with, just like your availability. Adjusting this part of your profile offers up another chance improve your chances of attracting more students that are specifically well-fit for what you are willing to provide.
Consider getting a background check
Though it is not a requirement that you purchase and run a background check for yourself just to be listed on Wyzant, many students - especially those who are having lessons arranged by a parent - are specifically looking for tutors who have recently passed one. Many students search only for tutors with recent background checks.
A student who feels that this is important and that you are the right tutor may opt to purchase one for you, which requires your consent.
If you want to get ahead of the curve, you can purchase a background check for $15.99 on the Background check page, which will walk you through the process run by Checkr.
This article originally appeared on the Wyzant Tutor Blog on 08/23/2018.
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