HiTutor

HiTutor Review

HiTutor (website is down) is based in Taiwan and they are looking for teachers with at least one year of teaching experience and a bachelors degree. A TEFL/TESL/CELTA certificate is also preferred. They also teach French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Bahasa Indonesian. They do hire non-natives but we don’t know how much they pay yet.

Please leave us your comments and reviews of HiTutor .

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  • I have worked with the Hitutor since November 2020. I really like most of the platform and its content. I teach a wide range of students- age 3- 35. The pay rate is 12 USD per 50 min lesson.
    However, it was stressful at times with the downloading speed( their consultant used to chase me and make me do a speed test , and I thought my internet was bad; however, once I sat in my friend's house with a super fast internet and the speed of the APP was still low.)

    I do not get frequent bookings. Only 10 50min lessons in January. Quite disappointing.
    And, lastly, the biggest disappointment was their system of penalties; once they booked a lesson with me 4 hours prior to the booking ( which was my bedtime). They usually notify you 2-3 hours ahead, but this time they did not notify me due to some internet or system failure; so,I received a notification 5 minutes before the lesson start so I rushed as quickly as I could ending in being a bit late; however , my student refused to wait for me and the HR penalized me 200%. This was very demoralizing, and is the main reason why I chose to have less bookings with Hitutor and more bookings with XES.

  • I was working for HiTutor 2013-16
    Then I liked the company so I applied again 2020. Here's my personal review and answer to some comments here:
    .
    -It's legit, definitely not a scam. They use PayPal and bank transfer. They pay every month.
    -No, they don't ask you to install any program to your computer. No team viewer, or anything.
    -They pay teachers from native-speaking countries higher than non-native ones, even with Tesol or tefl certificates or if you're living in another country. I guess they base your rate not only on your education but your citizenship, and I guess the way you look.
    .
    2013: -Classes are on Skype
    -For non-native teachers(e.g. Filipinos) the offer, at least to me, was less than 3USD
    -Students mostly come from Taiwan. Although I also taught students from HK, SG
    -You are free to plot your learn schedule, no required hours.
    .
    2020: -They now use TEACHING PLATFORM, easy to use but also easily freezes in the middle of your class. It is always the problem and sometimes you sit in front of your pc for, say, 4 straight hours thinking the platform will be okay but no. So you ended up wasting your 4 hours because they are not paying you those unconducted classes. If it would function from the start and you get connected to your student, it would have glitches in the middle of the class, like you cannot turn to the next page or the chatbox can't send messages anymore. Those are the least problems when you can somehow conduct your classes and be paid. When there's a problem on the platform, OFTEN but not always, they blame it on your internet connection or the student's, even if you could access everything on the internet but the platform, it is still your connection.
    -My salary became lower than the less than 3USD.
    -They are kind enough to pay half of the class if the student did not appear after 15 minutes of waiting, or if someone cancels your class less than an hour before the class, given that you send them the cancellation notice. But most of the time you will not receive these notices, then you would inform them about it and follow up again and again until you get tired receiving "noted" kind of responses and you just stop asking and fighting to be paid 1 USD more.
    -They pay every 10th of the month, you shoulder the fee if it is PayPal, and for bank transfers they have chosen banks that you can use to collect your salary.

  • The name of this company sounds like a branch of iTutorGroup a big chinese company for teaching english to asians. They make candidates to undergo a hard long training procedure,NEVER ACCEPT A COMPANY USES THE PROGRAM TEAM VIEWER! they will tell you it is to check what your internet speed is. but they can have access to ALL YOUR INFO!!! They will never let you see the lesson you are going to teach until it is 10min before the class. If a student does not come and you were waiting for the class, they won't pay you anything for that class. then they pay much less to non native language teachers,They only pay with wire transfer, DO NOT ACCEPT WHO PAYS YOU WITH WIRE TRANSFERS if you earn less than $500/month you are charged a US$6 fee and then when the money arrives to your bank you are charged again more money (I was charged with $16) STAY AWAY FOR THOSE iTutorInsanes

  • Hi I just started with them, they allow you to book your own classes but I'am not sure how many of those classes will be scheduled with students. Can someone enlighten me.

  • Does anyone hires non-native speakers here? I am a non-native but I know that I can speak fluent English. All that I see is US/UK/CA.

  • I've been working for HiTutor as an online tutor for more than 2 years but I can say that this is the best company I've been with. Training sessions are painless and fuss-free. Communicating with the HR and customer service is easy and stress-free because they're friendly and very professional. I've never had any bad experience with them and it surprises me to know about some of the not-so-favorable reviews. I'm actually on a teaching break, but still planning on teaching at HiTutor again.

    • Hi, What's the pay like if you don't mind me asking?

      I'm interested in applying and can't find any info on their website.

  • Do you mean that Diploma has the same meaning with below Bachelor degree? Honestly, I am on my way to my second degree: Bachelor of English Literature. Now, I am in the 7th semester of my study, and I hope that in the next semester, I get my Bachelor degree. Please let me know about that because I am interested in this job.

    • Hi Max, yes diploma is basically the same as degree. It is the certificate you get when you graduate (from college or university).

  • I sent my CV, and proceeded to a Skype interview.

    Very weird demo, no face to face you just read a script.

    Interviewed with Patricai Tsu, very unprofessional.

    After the demo, I did not hear from them so I followed up.

    Patricia then sends a blank attachment as my "result"

    Scam, stay away

    • Hi Karen,

      I am Hitutor Recruiter Patricia. I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience but somehow it does not sound like the procedure we have at HiTutor at all.

      If you did schedule a Skype demo successfully, and with me, I am sure you also received our demo materials when I sent out my Skype information. Besides that, we will also inform teachers the length of the demo, the student's level, and the date/time for the online demo in the very same email. You will also get a reminder a day before your interview sent by Setmore. I feel so far I have been professional.

      Of course, you can read the demo materials as a script when you conduct the online demo, but we prefer teachers to show some guiding skills, interaction, and their own teaching style during the process. We really do not like teachers to just read and repeat. Furthermore, if you are not a fan of our demo materials, you can even prepare your own material and teach it the way you like it, with the theme you want. I had a teacher who taught just pronunciation for the online demo. It was one of the most interesting demo I had and of course, I passed that teacher with an offer.

      If a teacher wants to read a script to present his or her demo that way, that will be his or her choice since we give nothing but freedom when it comes to teaching. It is weird to just read a script for a demo. I second that.

      In the end of the demo, we will let teachers know that we will send the result later that day or the next day, pass or not. We NEVER sent out the result as an attachment, blank or not. You may not know but we have to send out the result under Hitutor system. Attachment is simply not allowed and not an option. I am sure this is one of the part you thought I was unprofessional. But as you can see, there is no way I can send you an attachment.

      Once again, I am sorry that you had an unpleasant yet not a HiTutor experience. I checked the records after reading your review but I don't seem to find any Karen applying in May. Perhaps you applied in a different month? Or with a different name?

      If you could inform us the email used in your application, I would be very glad to look into it. You can send me back the blank attachment if you don't mind. I am very curious how you get it. I might be able to pull out our interview video that I recorded even.

      I hope it is just a misunderstanding and I hope I have clarified it. You're more than welcome to contact me if you have more to provide and prove me unprofessional. I am all ears.

      Since you have scheduled an interview with me not too long ago, I am sure you still have my email address somewhere. Feel free to contact me if you want me to look into it, or send me the blank attachment, or want to re-watch our online interview.

      Be sure not to look for Patricia Tsu when you search our old emails though. That is not my last name.

      Hope to hear from you soon.