Hiring Online English Tutors: A Job Description Template for Schools
Before a school advertises for an online English tutor, it needs to decide what work it is offering. “Flexible hours, competitive pay, enthusiastic teacher wanted” leaves applicants to guess the learners, timetable, preparation load, and payment basis. A useful role brief answers those questions before the school spends time reading applications.
This guide gives academic managers and tutoring businesses a practical worksheet and an editable job description. It focuses on designing an online teaching role, rather than rewriting a vague advertisement with more persuasive adjectives. The examples are fictional planning cases, not current vacancies or market-rate claims.
The final output is a job advertisement that a qualified applicant can use to assess fit, plus a small set of questions that help the school compare relevant experience.
Start with the teaching need, not the candidate description
Write a one-sentence explanation of the teaching gap. For example: “We need someone to teach two weekly online B1 conversation groups for adults and provide a short progress note after each four-week block.” This tells you more than “We need a dynamic native-level tutor” because it describes actual work that can be planned and observed.
Then answer four questions: who are the learners, what should they be able to do, what support will the tutor receive, and which parts of the course must the tutor create? If the school cannot yet answer them, label them as decisions to make before publication. Do not transfer uncertainty to candidates by promising flexibility that the timetable will not allow.
Separate learner outcomes from teacher responsibilities. “Students practise clarifying a request in a workplace conversation” is an outcome. “The tutor adapts the supplied roleplay and gives feedback on clarification” is a responsibility. A role description becomes easier to assess when those two ideas are connected.
Build a workload and schedule worksheet
Complete these fields before drafting the advertisement:
Learner group: age group, approximate English level, group size, and reason for studying.
Teaching format: individual or group, live or asynchronous, and the platform used.
Scheduled contact time: days, start and finish times, named time zone, session length, and expected start date.
Other work: preparation, marking, progress notes, meetings, onboarding, and parent or client communication where relevant.
Materials: supplied curriculum, adaptation expected, original materials expected, and who approves changes.
Payment basis: amount or genuine range, currency, unit of payment, and which duties that amount covers.
Scheduling changes: how cover, cancellations, rescheduling, and timetable changes are handled.
Support: academic contact, technical help, observation process, and access to teaching resources.
A fictional timetable might have six 50-minute teaching sessions each week and ten minutes after each for records. That is five hours of teaching plus one hour of scheduled administration. If preparation or meetings happen outside those blocks, record them separately. Calling this “five hours a week” would hide work that the plan already includes.
State whether the payment is for a scheduled hour, a teaching session, or another defined unit. “Per class” is incomplete without the class duration and covered duties. You do not need a complicated compensation model, but applicants should be able to compare the same unit that the school will use when explaining the offer.
For international timetables, include a named time zone and explain whether the schedule follows changes in that location's local clock. Do not ask applicants to infer that from an abbreviation alone. Ask them to confirm availability using the stated zone, then check it together before making commitments.
Decide what is required and what can be learned
Make two lists: essential on day one, and useful but trainable. An essential item should connect to a real responsibility. If the role requires teaching adult B1 groups, ask for evidence of planning and managing a comparable lesson. If the school provides training on its platform, unfamiliarity with that exact platform need not automatically become a rejection criterion.
Avoid requiring every attractive skill at once. A tutor responsible for delivering and adapting supplied lessons has a different role from a curriculum designer who builds a whole programme. If you need both, describe both and account for the work. Do not describe an extensive curriculum project as a small preparation task hidden inside a teaching rate.
Replace labels with observable requirements. Instead of “excellent personality,” ask for clear instructions, responsive feedback, and professional communication with learners. Instead of assuming that a birthplace predicts teaching quality, ask candidates to demonstrate the language and teaching skills the role needs. This keeps the brief focused on work evidence.
Choose which qualification or experience requirements your school actually needs and can explain. Do not copy them from another advertisement simply because they look familiar. This guide does not establish certification, employment, or work-authorization requirements for a particular location; those belong in your school's own verified hiring process.
Editable online tutor job description
Copy the structure below and replace every bracketed field with a confirmed detail. Remove sections that genuinely do not apply. Keep a private version with unanswered questions; publish only the version that applicants can act on.
Job title: Online English Tutor, [adult or young-learner group], [individual or small-group format].
About the role: [School name] is hiring a tutor to teach [learner group and approximate level]. The teaching focus is [two or three practical learner outcomes]. Lessons take place [online platform or delivery arrangement], with [materials and academic support supplied].
Schedule and workload: The planned timetable is [days and times, with named time zone]. Each session lasts [length], with [number] sessions per week. The role also includes [preparation, records, feedback, meetings, and other duties]. The expected start date is [date], and the planned teaching period is [duration or ongoing arrangement].
Pay and covered work: Compensation is [amount or confirmed range, currency, and payment unit]. This covers [specific duties]. [Explain any separately paid duties and relevant cancellation arrangements in plain language.] Discuss the complete terms with shortlisted candidates before asking them to accept the role.
Responsibilities: Teach the agreed lesson objectives; adapt supplied materials for the class; check understanding during activities; give actionable feedback; maintain [specified records]; and communicate [specified issues] through [school process]. Add curriculum writing only if it is part of the actual role.
Essential evidence: Applicants should be able to show [relevant teaching experience or another accepted route], demonstrate [required language and teaching skills], and meet the stated timetable. [List the school's verified qualification and eligibility requirements separately and accurately.]
Helpful experience: [Two or three relevant but nonessential skills]. We provide [actual onboarding or platform training, if available]. Do not promise mentoring or training unless someone has agreed to deliver it.
How to apply: Send [the minimum application materials needed] to [application route] by [deadline with time zone]. Include a short example of [one relevant teaching decision] and confirm your availability for the published timetable.
Selection process: We plan to use [application review], [interview], and [a clearly scoped teaching task, if needed]. Tell candidates the expected duration, preparation requirements, compensation if offered, and communication timeline. Name a contact for questions.
A fictional completed role summary
Here is a concise summary built from the planning worksheet: “We are recruiting an online tutor for two small groups of adult B1 learners practising workplace conversation. The timetable is Tuesday and Thursday, 18:00–21:00 UTC, with three 50-minute sessions each evening and ten minutes after each session for records. We supply the lesson framework; the tutor adapts examples and gives individual feedback.”
That summary still needs confirmed compensation, preparation expectations, eligibility details, start date, and an application route before it could become an advertisement. Keep the example visibly incomplete rather than letting readers mistake it for a real vacancy. Its purpose is to show how schedule and teaching responsibility can be stated together.
Ask a colleague who did not write the brief to calculate the scheduled workload. If their answer differs from yours, revise the wording. This small check can reveal an ambiguous session length, an unexplained break, or administration that has disappeared from the advertised hours.
Three screening questions tied to the actual work
Question 1: “Describe a short activity you would use to practise clarification with an adult B1 group. What would learners do, and how would you check understanding?” A useful answer identifies a learner action and a check, such as pairs resolving an incomplete booking request, followed by comparing the information they obtained.
Question 2: “A confident learner answers every question while two others contribute little. What would you change in the next activity?” Look for a specific adjustment to turn-taking, preparation time, grouping, or task design, plus a way to see whether it helped. A promise to “make everyone participate” is too general to evaluate without a follow-up.
Question 3: “Which parts of the advertised timetable and workload can you commit to, and what needs clarification?” This checks mutual understanding. It should not be treated as a test of whether candidates agree to every possible future request. Record questions about preparation, cancellations, or scheduling as issues to resolve in the offer.
Use the same core questions for applicants to the same role, while allowing relevant follow-ups. Take notes about the evidence provided. Do not turn a brief written answer into a sweeping judgment about a person's motivation or teaching potential.
Review the advert before publication
Ask a teaching colleague to read it as an applicant. They should be able to answer: whom will I teach, what will I teach, when will I work, what other duties are included, how is pay calculated, and what happens after I apply? If a key answer lives only in the manager's head, add it to the brief.
Check that “flexible” describes a real choice, that training has an owner, and that essential requirements are consistent across the advert and screening questions. Make sure the application address is monitored. Assign someone to acknowledge applications and communicate changes if the timetable or hiring plan moves.
For a school hiring several tutors, avoid combining incompatible schedules into one vague role. Explain the available timetable options and ask candidates which they can cover. For a small independent tutoring business, simplify the process while retaining the same clarity about duties and communication.
Put the finished role in front of applicants
Once the details are confirmed, use Post a Job on ESL Careers to enter the role, review its presentation, and inspect the current listing options before checkout. Use the form's description and requirements fields to preserve the practical details you have worked out here. Do not replace them with a promotional summary that removes the schedule or payment basis.
Keep a copy of the final brief for interviews and onboarding. If the role changes, update the advertisement and explain the change to people already in the process. A well-written post is the start of a consistent hiring conversation, not a substitute for one.