Top 10 tips for nailing your tutor interview

So, you’ve secured a tutor interview, congratulations!

Tutoring is a great way to gain valuable experience while making a meaningful impact, which for many makes it an incredibly rewarding role. There are many benefits to part-time tutoring and any role that involves working with children will have a high level of responsibility from day one. To become a tutor, you will need to showcase your professionalism, readiness to learn and adaptability.

So, are you ready to become a tutor? To help you succeed in your tutor interview we’ve put together these top 10 tips for nailing your interview. 

1. Do your research

Before any interview, it's crucial that you understand the company and role that you have applied for. Here's a few ways you can research Explore Learning:

• Study our company website to understand our mission, values, and tutoring approach.

• Have a look at our careers website where you’ll find lots of information about our roles and the recruitment process.

• Check out our social media accounts to find out what our staff have been up to – you’ll find lots of recent updates on our LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram pages.

• Read through any emails you have received from the recruitment team as they will include key information about the recruitment process and what you need to know before your interview.

2. Know your strengths

At Explore Learning we use strength-based recruitment, which is an approach to hiring focused on natural talents and motivators, as opposed to a candidate's competencies. This means that rather than focusing purely on candidates' skills and behaviours, strength-based recruitment hones in on the intrinsic motivation that drives those behaviours. Before your interview, have a think about:

• Why do you want to become a tutor? Why Explore Learning?

• In what ways would a tutoring role align with your interests?

• What are you good at and how would this help you in a tutoring role?

3. Consider the environment

At Explore Learning, we interview for our tutor role virtually, so you may want to consider how you will come across through a computer screen. Here’s some key advice from our selection team interviewers:

• If you are not familiar with Microsoft Teams, get yourself set up early to make sure that you have time to deal with any technical issues. It’s always best to check that your camera and microphone are working too.

• As much as possible speak naturally and don’t be tempted to write a script and read from the screen – if you’re feeling nervous before the interview, practise by recording yourself answering some interview style questions to get comfortable.

• Get yourself set up in a space where you can focus and be distraction free – you might want to let others know that you’ll be in an interview to avoid interruptions.

• Make sure you are happy with the background that will be shown to your interviewer. You can blur your background on Microsoft Teams, however you will need to unblur it in order to show your interviewer your ID.

4. Prepare for potential interview questions

Being ready for common questions is essential, so it’s important to have thought about your responses to key questions before an interview. Strengths-based recruitment will also often feature scenario questions to assess a candidate’s natural response to a situation. Here's how to prepare:

• Craft concise responses to common questions such as "Why do you want to be a tutor?"

• When giving examples of your experiences, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers.

• Think about how you would deal with scenarios that you might face in this role. For example, how would you deal with a child struggling with a tricky question?

5. Highlight relevant experience

We know that you don’t need to have tutored in the past to be an amazing tutor, but talking about any relevant experience that you do have will help to show your potential as a tutor. Before your interview, prepare some examples of valuable experiences you have had that showcase your interests and skills that would help you in a tutor role. This could be from work experience, in education, or even through your hobbies. Think about:

• What did you enjoy about these experiences?

• What have you learned from them?

• How would you use the skills you have gained in this new role?

• What challenges have you faced and worked to overcome? What impact did this have?

6. Showcase your passion for education

Expressing your passion for education and working with children is vital. You can do this by:

• Expressing genuine enthusiasm for teaching and helping students succeed.

• Share your commitment to working in Education – feel free to tell your interviewer personal anecdotes or stories that highlight why you think Education is so important.

• Showing insight into Education News and current issues in Education in the UK.

7. Consider your communication style

Speaking to someone through a screen can feel a little unnatural, so it’s important to consider how you are communicating and what you want your communication style to say about you. Here are some points to consider:

Relax and speak naturally – let your personality shine through! Warmth and energy in your communication style will show your passion for the role and the company.

• Mirror the interviewer – some interviews will be more formal than others and it’s important that you can adapt to the interviewer you have and to the topics you are discussing.

• Body language is important - smiles, gestures and eye contact show your confidence and credibility as a communicator.

• Tutors need to be engaging communicators. Practise recording yourself and pay attention to your tone - your tone shows the emotion behind what you’re saying and can help to make you more engaging.

8. The logistics

In your interview you will be asked some logistical questions so that you can be matched up to the most suitable role for you. You won’t be assessed on your answers, but in order to offer you a role if you are successful, your interviewer will need to know:

• When you are available to work - research your journey to the centre to find out the earliest times you can start a shift on the days that you are available.

• How much you would like to work - you might be available any day but only want to work 2 shifts a week. Have a think about what will work for you based on your other commitments.

• What are your long-term plans - are you moving in the next year and do you have any holidays booked? Have any dates to hand.

9. Practice good interview etiquette

A level of professionalism is important in any job, but as a tutor you will be working in a position of responsibility with children, so showing that you can work in a professional environment is vital. Remember these points:

• Arrive punctually for the interview – getting yourself set up early also means that when your interviewer arrives you will be relaxed and ready to go.

• Be polite and respectful throughout the entire recruitment process – this includes when speaking to our team through emails or on the phone.

• Show that you are actively listening by responding thoughtfully to the questions you are asked and it’s always a nice touch to use your interviewer’s name.

10. Don’t make these common interview mistakes

Our team have held a lot of interviews over the years and so wanted to share some common mistakes that candidates make:

• The questions you ask an interviewer will show the amount of research you have done – asking how old the children that we work with are suggests that you haven’t looked at our website or read the job description.

• Don’t give up! Making a mistake or fumbling when you speak is not an immediate rejection. If anything, picking yourself back up and carrying on is a great way to show your resilience. You can absolutely ask to take a moment to gather your thoughts and restart when you’re feeling ready.

• Try to enjoy it! When you’re feeling very nervous it’s easy to let it impact your communication style, making you appear stiff and cold. Above all, your interviewer wants to get to know you and find out what makes you tick, so try to be as relaxed as possible and show your true self.

Ready for your tutor interview?

Remember, a tutor interview is not just about demonstrating your qualifications; it's also about showing your dedication to helping students succeed. By following these tips, we hope you will stand out as a strong candidate and increase your chances of securing a rewarding tutoring position with us.

If you’ve not applied yet, but are ready to take on the challenge of becoming a tutor, why not get in touch? At Explore Learning we’re here to provide a quality tuition experience to the families that use our service. To ensure that quality, we invest in our people! If you’re looking for a tuition role that helps you develop with training and support, with regular and consistent hours, we’d love to hear from you!