Pros
Everyday you get to speak with interesting people from China and Taiwan. The background and experiences they share allows the teacher to learn as much as they do from the lesson. For a teaching gig, there's little to no preparation. As long as you have experience in teaching, you'll quickly make use of a routine that is effective with your students. The only prep involves taking 30 secs to review the slides and determine if you'll need to add a role play activity or something more engaging because pure discussion and reading lessons are boring for most students.
Cons
I'm a highly rated teacher with an average about 9.5 and yet I earn around $11.40 per session. While management might suggest that's good for "45 mins of work," each session takes about 55-60 mins of your time because you sign in early, and you fill out a progress report for each student. The company does not care if you have teaching experience or multiple degrees...there is no pay difference. Their recruiters oversell...I was told the average session paid about $25. The most I've ever made has been $24, but again, your average is what matters, and mine is about half that amount. They also pretend like my teaching experience is important, and then send me to a trainer who says it's not necessary to have teaching experience to do the job...what gives? On average, the lower the English language learning level of the student, the more likely you won't get a rating for the student, which means no bonus. I've taught classes of 4 students, received no rating from any of the 4, and received $7.50 as compensation. Meanwhile, if a student gives you a 7 (which has happened a few times), you receive less. Clearly, it's a one way street with the "consultant" on the losing side. Schedulers tend to ask for help covering hours more than necessary. For instance, if one scheduler asks if I can help during peak hours on the weekend and I respectfully decline because of other arrangements, why must I be asked the same question from another scheduler 15 minutes later? They seriously need to revamp the system, not to mention, add an incentive for those busy hours, meaning something more than the "bonus" which is not guaranteed. How about a higher base rate during those hours? Please do not forget that the minimum wage in the United States is still only $7.25, and employers are responsible for half of the payroll taxes of their employees...as independent contractors for iTutorGroup, we're responsible for it all, so it ends up being less than the minimum wage in the United States. Lastly, you are asked to review every lesson, which is tedious. Unless there's a problem, like an error, we shouldn't have to review the lesson. If they're so bad, you should have a team of people reviewing them. I should not have to determine whether the usability, purpose, etc is fair, good, great, etc for every single session. I should not have leave notes, either.