If you are a certified teacher or have an ESL certification, you should consider tutoring online. There are several companies out there that hire tutors in most areas. You may know about Tutor.com, which hires tutors for math, English, and science courses for K-12 students. Teaching students who are non-native speakers is also a real possibility. Companies that are outside of the United States hire native speakers, but remember, you must have experience and usually an ESL certificate.

I just returned from teaching English in South Korea, and I have to say that getting an online tutoring job was probably more challenging that getting an on-site job in South Korea (and the school system in South Korea reimburses for airfare and pays for a tiny study apartment). The most difficult part about teaching in South Korea was getting the paperwork completed to get a visa.

To tutor online, I’ve had to have interviews (I had a phone interview to teach in South Korea) and I had to have simulated lessons online for real students or trainers from the companies. You may think that one or two sample lesson will complete the process after the interview – not true. I’ve had to give several sample lessons and participate in hours of online training , sometimes watching videos and answering questions, sometimes completing live training sessions with trainers.

Because many of the ESL companies work at night while we are settling down to go to sleep in the U.S., I’ve had interviews and training sessions that have lasted until the wee hours of the morning. Tutoring companies also want serious teachers, so having customer service experience in lieu of real teaching experience isn’t going to cut it. I’ve found that many of the companies also have internet speed requirements (they can run a test to check).

Online tutoring companies get many applicants, or so they say in their advertisements. However, tutoring can be a fun part-time position. To work full-time,you probably have to work for several companies.