Has anyone worked as a tutor for Action Potential Learning?

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eatandpoop

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Has anyone worked as a tutor for Action Potential Learning (http://www.aplearning.com/)?

If so, is it very selective to become a tutor? Is the subject lesson test really hard? How is the pay? What are your thoughts (pros/cons)?

Thanks.

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:rolleyes: What a waste of time. If you are near a college campus and can't find people to tutor on your own for cash you are pretty darn incompetent
 
:rolleyes: What a waste of time. If you are near a college campus and can't find people to tutor on your own for cash you are pretty darn incompetent

Why ya gotta be so rude?

I'm an hour away from a college campus, and would like to save gas.
Wyzant rips new tutors off.
I figured working for a company might be slightly better.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Why ya gotta be so rude?

I'm an hour away from a college campus, and would like to save gas.
Wyzant rips new tutors off.
I figured working for a company might be slightly better.

It won't

How do you think they make money? They try to get parents who will pay $X for tutoring their child. Then they pay you 0.5*X to actually do the job. Plus you have to deal with a bunch of time consuming BS like working for the company.
 
Has anyone worked as a tutor for . . . What are your thoughts (pros/cons)? Thanks.

I'm not familiar with them - taking a quick look at their web site it looks like they're mostly working with high school kids in TX. So I can't speak much to that, since Next Step (and my own career with Kaplan and with freelancing) was focused on working with college students and doing pre-professional test prep (MCAT/LSAT/GMAT).

I've talked a lot in different posts about the customer's perspective - how to make sure you're getting a good tutor. Not as many folks ask about the tutor's perspective - how to make sure you're getting a good job.

There's no real rocket science here, just make sure you're direct about getting your questions answered, but don't be pushy or weird or they won't hire you. What I mean by that is that you can and should ask the following:

1. If I'm hired, how long is the typical wait before I'm assigned a tutoring student?
2. Do I schedule my sessions directly with my students, or do I have to follow a schedule made by someone else?
3. How much control do I have over my schedule? Understanding, of course, that I will be expected to work within the constraints of the student's preferences, do I get to make my own schedule?
4. What's the hourly pay? Will I be an employee or a contractor? (for younger tutors who are only doing this temporarily, being a contractor is better since you get the full $ value on your paycheck, but you have to hold back some money to pay your own taxes, for older tutors who are going to be doing this for a long time or as their main gig, being an employee is better b/c you'll get health benefits, 401K, etc)
5. How many hours a week will I be expected to work? Am I permitted to work?
6. Is travel compensated? How far will I be expected to travel? Will my students travel to me?
7. Do you have a non-compete agreement?

But you don't want to ask questions that go beyond the bounds of your relationship with them. Asking things like, "How many chemistry tutors do you have?" or "Do all your tutors start at the same rate?" or anything that extends beyond the boundaries of your relationship with them will come across as weird and/or pushy. It's really rare, but we sometimes get prospective tutors coming to us who seem to want to know every single operational detail about Next Step's business model. And frankly that's none of their business, and wouldn't typically hire someone who doesn't have a basic sense of professional boundaries.

Plus you have to deal with a bunch of time consuming BS like working for the company.

I'm sure this varies tremendously by market, but it was my own experience freelancing that the amount of staggering time-wastage-BS was much, much higher when I was freelancing.

Clients would flake out, cancel after I'd already arrived, fail to pay, change their plans from "Oh I want 12 hrs of tutoring" to "Oh I just wanted that one session". I'd have to spend 45 min on the phone with a neurotic parents, etc. etc. etc.

Again, there's going to be huge variation here based on personal preference, type of client, type of market, etc. But I will suggest that freelancing or working for a company is very much not a simple cut-and-dry decision the way you're saying. I've worked for at least a half-dozen different companies over the years and done a lot of freelancing. So I flatter myself to think I know more about this than almost anyone.

So how do you decide?

Freelancing

Pro: usually a higher hourly rate. Typically off-the-books unless you're doing a lot of it and need to file as a self-employed person.

To give an extreme example here, when I was working in NYC I could get people who would pay north of $400/hr to work with me because I was "the best". Compare that to Kaplan or Princeton who start their teachers at something like $18-$22/hr.

Pro: total self-determination over your schedule and client base.

Since you don't have a boss to answer to, you can fire a client. I only ever had to do this once, and I hated to do it. But he literally never once did his homework in a month of prep, and was both stupid and stubborn. He was also mean to me and more than a little racist. After a half-dozen sessions I'd had enough and told him I would no longer work with him.

Con: getting clients. You typically have to spend much more time "marketing" yourself than actually working.

This will vary a lot. If you only want 1 student at a time you don't have to do much. If you get a good word of mouth going they will come to you. But in talking to many other freelancers and those who end up working for Next Step in place of (or alongside) their freelancing work, the constant complaint is having to find clients.

Con: flaky clients.

It's a rare freelancer who can say "You must pay me up front for two months' worth of tutoring" and get the client to agree to that. They will constantly show up late or not at all, cancel tutoring after a few sessions, etc. It is very, very hard to get a regular schedule going as a freelancer. Typically a company will require clients to pay most or all in advance. They'll have some sort of system in place to compensate you for last-minute cancelations (or they should - we do at Next Step and any company that expects you to just suck it up if the kid no-shows on you is not one you want to work for).

Con: difficult parents.

Working with the student is the fun part of the job. The parents are usually totally okay as well, but there's always that one that seems to need more attention than the kid does. Whether you want to call them helicopter parents, snowplow parents, whatever - they're a pain and having to deal with one of them will just ruin your week. As a freelancer, there's nothing to fall back on. They call you, and you have to deal with them.

Overall: Freelancing means a higher hourly rate, but also means lots and LOTS of uncompensated time - time marketing, time traveling, time spent talking to parents. Whether it balances out to be a better choice will depend on your situation.

Working for a company

Pro: they bring the clients to you.

This will vary by company and by market, but any good company should be able to bring you enough clients to keep you busy at whatever level you're looking for. Especially in MCAT prep, or math/science tutoring in general, good talent is hard to come by and a well-run tutoring company will have more clients than tutors. This also saves you all that time spent marketing.

Pro: more regular, more guaranteed work

Typically companies require clients to buy a certain chunk of tutoring and to pay up front (or mostly up front). This means that you know you're going to be getting 10 hrs, or 100 hrs (or whatever) or work and that it's much more reliable. Any good company will still pay you if a kid cancels on you last minute (Next Step does).

Pro: fewer overall hassles

A good tutoring company will be the ones who deal with pushy parents, getting them to pay, shipping out books and materials, providing the infrastructure needed to do the tutoring, etc. Lots of little operational headaches to make sure the tutoring sessions themselves can run smoothly will all be taken care of for you.

Con: usually a lower hourly rate than freelancing

We discussed this above. There's lots of variation here (Next Step typically pays 50%+ higher than the other guys) but you're typically going to get paid less than what you could ask for by freelancing.

Con: paperwork? jerky boss?

This really varies by company. I worked for one little mom-and-pop-storefront type place where I had to waste like 45min after every single appointment filling out all these lesson plan things and homework reports and such. Needless to say, I quit pretty promptly. At Next Step, we're very sensitive to asking tutors to spend uncompensated time so we minimize paperwork as much as possible. This isn't something you'll really get a sense of until you actually work for a place for a few months. Also, like any place where you have a boss, the boss can be a jerk or can be awesome (or more likely somewhere in between). That little mom-and-pop-storefront place I worked at had a really awesome manager and we're still good friends.

Con: Non-compete agreement

This can be a deal-breaker depending on your situation. For MCAT prep, basically every big company (except Next Step) will require you to sign a non-compete that says you won't do any side work at all. For high school level tutoring this is probably less common, but be very careful to read everything thoroughly before you sign it, and make sure you're okay with the terms of your employment.

Overall: Working for a company will get you more reliable, regular work and help shield you from hassles, but will involve some of its own paperwork and often a lower hourly rate.

Okay so this went on WAY longer than I expected, but I hope it's helpful!

b.
 
I'm not familiar with them - taking a quick look at their web site it looks like they're mostly working with high school kids in TX. So I can't speak much to that, since Next Step (and my own career with Kaplan and with freelancing) was focused on working with college students and doing pre-professional test prep (MCAT/LSAT/GMAT).

I've talked a lot in different posts about the customer's perspective - how to make sure you're getting a good tutor. Not as many folks ask about the tutor's perspective - how to make sure you're getting a good job.

There's no real rocket science here, just make sure you're direct about getting your questions answered, but don't be pushy or weird or they won't hire you. What I mean by that is that you can and should ask the following:

1. If I'm hired, how long is the typical wait before I'm assigned a tutoring student?
2. Do I schedule my sessions directly with my students, or do I have to follow a schedule made by someone else?
3. How much control do I have over my schedule? Understanding, of course, that I will be expected to work within the constraints of the student's preferences, do I get to make my own schedule?
4. What's the hourly pay? Will I be an employee or a contractor? (for younger tutors who are only doing this temporarily, being a contractor is better since you get the full $ value on your paycheck, but you have to hold back some money to pay your own taxes, for older tutors who are going to be doing this for a long time or as their main gig, being an employee is better b/c you'll get health benefits, 401K, etc)
5. How many hours a week will I be expected to work? Am I permitted to work?
6. Is travel compensated? How far will I be expected to travel? Will my students travel to me?
7. Do you have a non-compete agreement?

But you don't want to ask questions that go beyond the bounds of your relationship with them. Asking things like, "How many chemistry tutors do you have?" or "Do all your tutors start at the same rate?" or anything that extends beyond the boundaries of your relationship with them will come across as weird and/or pushy. It's really rare, but we sometimes get prospective tutors coming to us who seem to want to know every single operational detail about Next Step's business model. And frankly that's none of their business, and wouldn't typically hire someone who doesn't have a basic sense of professional boundaries.



I'm sure this varies tremendously by market, but it was my own experience freelancing that the amount of staggering time-wastage-BS was much, much higher when I was freelancing.

Clients would flake out, cancel after I'd already arrived, fail to pay, change their plans from "Oh I want 12 hrs of tutoring" to "Oh I just wanted that one session". I'd have to spend 45 min on the phone with a neurotic parents, etc. etc. etc.

Again, there's going to be huge variation here based on personal preference, type of client, type of market, etc. But I will suggest that freelancing or working for a company is very much not a simple cut-and-dry decision the way you're saying. I've worked for at least a half-dozen different companies over the years and done a lot of freelancing. So I flatter myself to think I know more about this than almost anyone.

So how do you decide?

Freelancing

Pro: usually a higher hourly rate. Typically off-the-books unless you're doing a lot of it and need to file as a self-employed person.

To give an extreme example here, when I was working in NYC I could get people who would pay north of $400/hr to work with me because I was "the best". Compare that to Kaplan or Princeton who start their teachers at something like $18-$22/hr.

Pro: total self-determination over your schedule and client base.

Since you don't have a boss to answer to, you can fire a client. I only ever had to do this once, and I hated to do it. But he literally never once did his homework in a month of prep, and was both stupid and stubborn. He was also mean to me and more than a little racist. After a half-dozen sessions I'd had enough and told him I would no longer work with him.

Con: getting clients. You typically have to spend much more time "marketing" yourself than actually working.

This will vary a lot. If you only want 1 student at a time you don't have to do much. If you get a good word of mouth going they will come to you. But in talking to many other freelancers and those who end up working for Next Step in place of (or alongside) their freelancing work, the constant complaint is having to find clients.

Con: flaky clients.

It's a rare freelancer who can say "You must pay me up front for two months' worth of tutoring" and get the client to agree to that. They will constantly show up late or not at all, cancel tutoring after a few sessions, etc. It is very, very hard to get a regular schedule going as a freelancer. Typically a company will require clients to pay most or all in advance. They'll have some sort of system in place to compensate you for last-minute cancelations (or they should - we do at Next Step and any company that expects you to just suck it up if the kid no-shows on you is not one you want to work for).

Con: difficult parents.

Working with the student is the fun part of the job. The parents are usually totally okay as well, but there's always that one that seems to need more attention than the kid does. Whether you want to call them helicopter parents, snowplow parents, whatever - they're a pain and having to deal with one of them will just ruin your week. As a freelancer, there's nothing to fall back on. They call you, and you have to deal with them.

Overall: Freelancing means a higher hourly rate, but also means lots and LOTS of uncompensated time - time marketing, time traveling, time spent talking to parents. Whether it balances out to be a better choice will depend on your situation.

Working for a company

Pro: they bring the clients to you.

This will vary by company and by market, but any good company should be able to bring you enough clients to keep you busy at whatever level you're looking for. Especially in MCAT prep, or math/science tutoring in general, good talent is hard to come by and a well-run tutoring company will have more clients than tutors. This also saves you all that time spent marketing.

Pro: more regular, more guaranteed work

Typically companies require clients to buy a certain chunk of tutoring and to pay up front (or mostly up front). This means that you know you're going to be getting 10 hrs, or 100 hrs (or whatever) or work and that it's much more reliable. Any good company will still pay you if a kid cancels on you last minute (Next Step does).

Pro: fewer overall hassles

A good tutoring company will be the ones who deal with pushy parents, getting them to pay, shipping out books and materials, providing the infrastructure needed to do the tutoring, etc. Lots of little operational headaches to make sure the tutoring sessions themselves can run smoothly will all be taken care of for you.

Con: usually a lower hourly rate than freelancing

We discussed this above. There's lots of variation here (Next Step typically pays 50%+ higher than the other guys) but you're typically going to get paid less than what you could ask for by freelancing.

Con: paperwork? jerky boss?

This really varies by company. I worked for one little mom-and-pop-storefront type place where I had to waste like 45min after every single appointment filling out all these lesson plan things and homework reports and such. Needless to say, I quit pretty promptly. At Next Step, we're very sensitive to asking tutors to spend uncompensated time so we minimize paperwork as much as possible. This isn't something you'll really get a sense of until you actually work for a place for a few months. Also, like any place where you have a boss, the boss can be a jerk or can be awesome (or more likely somewhere in between). That little mom-and-pop-storefront place I worked at had a really awesome manager and we're still good friends.

Con: Non-compete agreement

This can be a deal-breaker depending on your situation. For MCAT prep, basically every big company (except Next Step) will require you to sign a non-compete that says you won't do any side work at all. For high school level tutoring this is probably less common, but be very careful to read everything thoroughly before you sign it, and make sure you're okay with the terms of your employment.

Overall: Working for a company will get you more reliable, regular work and help shield you from hassles, but will involve some of its own paperwork and often a lower hourly rate.

Okay so this went on WAY longer than I expected, but I hope it's helpful!

b.

Thank you SO very much for the detailed response, Next Step Tutor!!! I will be sure to heed your advice and especially ask those questions that you listed if I get an interview. Thank you for taking the time to list out all those questions and your thoughts. I really appreciate it.
 
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