Work from Home

         Ten years ago, I thought working online isn’t the most practical way of living life. It’s gonna bore you, will deprive you of meeting new people and isolate you from all others. I had my first ever online job 9 years ago. I was introduced by my cousin in law into this world of online teaching. I never thought of becoming a teacher at all, especially teaching English online to foreign students. English isn’t just my thing. But then because I needed some extra income to finance my study, I have to do it. So I must do what they required me to do. These are the things I needed to do before I successfully got in to this online world of working.

1) Resume – Like any other jobs, of course the interviewer must know something about you before they’ll get in touch with you personally. I was on my 3rd year in college at that time, so I don’t really have an experience professionally in this field. Moreover, this isn’t my field of expertise because I’m studying Accounting then. But of course, you have to impress your employer. You have to sell your self in your resume. Keep it straight as much as possible. Not so much flowers as your employer might get bored reading about you.

2) Research/Study – Try to research what usually an online teacher does in an actual lesson. You may ask someone who’s into that field already so that you have some ideas on what you are going to do when your prospective employer asks you about teaching or wants you to do the demo right then and there. 

Some schools do conduct English tests to measure your English level, try to refresh your English skills by answering some English questionnaires that you can find online or you may want to buy in the bookstore.

3) Smile. Showcase the pleasing personality. Look straight into his/her eyes – During the interview. You have to be confident, be yourself. Don’t let pressure sway you. Just have fun, be natural as much as possible. Wear that smile when needed. When you answer a question, look at your interviewer in the eye to be convincing enough that they’ll not regret of hiring you. Ask questions after, of course related to what you’re applying for. They’ll think that you are very much interested of getting the job.

4) Demo – After passing the initial interview, of course they will ask you to do a demo class. This is your ticket before you enter the online teaching world. You have to impress your student. You must be convincing enough that your goal is to really let the student learn from you and not just because it’s your job. Be friendly but not too much. Let your student feel at ease in you. Choose a topic in which you are confident about and that you have well practiced it before your demo lesson. Never hesitate to make corrections in case you students mispronounce words or grammatically wrong with his/her sentence constructions. They will greatly appreciate that. Just have fun the whole time you’re doing lesson. 

5) Now, you are ready to have your first class. – After you’ll passed the demo lesson. You’ll probably have some training to do for the first few days before you can have your first ever real class. Just enjoy the whole time until you’ll get the first ever online job you wanted.

          Now, I have been a tutor for more than 6 years in total. This is now my second online school. In my first online school, I’ve stayed for 5 years there. If not because of my schedule in my full time work, I think I’m still there. After I got married, my husband and I decided that I should just stay at home to concentrate on the family. He allowed me to work still but from home. Now I still enjoy working at home as an online tutor. In this way, I can decide what time of the day I should just be working. I can do our small business in my spare time.

            It’s not really that boring because all the time, you’ll have to talk to your students, different students. You get to learn from them also. It will not isolate you because you can close your class time if you want to meet your friends or have a family outings. You can actually do lessons anywhere as long as you have the internet. Isn’t it fun?

           I hope you too will be able to find that something you are passionate about. May it be online, business or in the corporate world. The important thing is that you enjoy!

          These are the online schools you may apply. I don’t know all of them but somehow this might be of help. In no particular order.

1) Weblio
2) Bizmates
3) Rarejobs
4) Bibo
5) 51Talk
6) Acadsoc
7) Hitutor

You can search more online schools. There are so many out there. Have fun!