Novakid
Novakid Review
Novakid <—- (Click here to Apply) (Homepage) is an American company based in San Francisco. They teach 1 to 1 classes to kids aged 4-12. They are looking for native speakers (from USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa) with a university degree and one year of experience teaching children. They offer flexible scheduling and promise a minimum of 10 hours per week. They pay $10 to $16 USD per hour to native speakers and $4 per hour to non-natives to start. The final base rate is decided individually based on interview performance and can be increased by the Teacher Level System
Please leave a comment or a review of Novakid.
58 Comments
MC Hattingh
I’ve just started working with Nova, and I am loving it. Literally the second day after being onboarded I had my schedule nearly filled up. They give a bonus for converting trial students, have a super flexible scheduling process, and the most supportive staff I’ve ever worked with.
I can honestly say I haven’t shared the experience of the negative reviews here. Pay is lower than the Asian companies I’ve worked with, $10/h as a Native, but the company culture, professional development (plenty of training sessions and webinars) and diversity of the kids make Nova the best place I’ve ever worked at🥰
Cannot praise them enough
Laetitia
They are now offering $10 per hour (I am a native speaker)
A scam
They are scammers and will be reported.
Robert
NOVAKID is trash. There’s a reason they never state their pay in any of their ads. Think about that for a second who doesn’t display their pay rates in a job ad? Only scammers. I got an offer to work for them about two months ago. I am a near native speaker who grow in the states since I was a kid. I have a degree in educaition, and spent almost my whole life tutoring. I am already tutoring for a legitimate company right now but accepted this opportunity. When I asked them twice about what pay rate I would receive they immediately withdrew their offer. Who does that? Only somebody with a lowball offer in mind. There’s a reason they are always searching for new teachers. They want to hire the desperate ones who will work for close to nothing. Avoid this “company.”
Linda
This company is great to AVOID. I have been teaching there for almost a year now, you never get your 16$ per hour since they will always find a way to deduct money from your paycheck, you have a lot of trials that are paid only $4 per class if a kid shows up and $1.6 if a kid doesn’t show up (which is 50% of the cases).
Teacher support has absolutely no understanding so if your student has bad internet or can’t login for whatever reason, they will say that it’s teacher’s fault and you’ll get deducted money for class. Worthless to say that with just a few bad comments (and Asian parents love to leave bad comments for the dumbest things like-THEIR internet was horrible and they lost some time of the lesson, and now they are mad that you can’t extend for 15 minutes despite the fact that you have another lesson right after) you can lose your job or get serious pay deductions.
The only positive thing is that about 2 months ago they updated their lessons so they are not extremely boring as they were, but now the material is a tiny bit better – still far from a fun interactive kids class.
Scheduling is fixed with an option to add a few flexible classes here and there, but they will make sure to contact you right away and say PLEASE TURN THOSE INTO FIXED SLOTS OR WE WILL DELETE THEM.
Also a thing to mention since I see that many people think it’s a Russian scam. It’s not a scam, it’s a real company, but the owner is a Russian man who registered his company in the USA and employed all the Eastern Europeans (from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine etc).
And whoever says the pay is great and that they treat you so nicely – it’s a bot, don’t believe it… 🙂
Heart
The applicants are clearly informed about the rates offered to native and non-native English speakers. Make sure to validate information before leaving a comment.
Brian
They have a hiring freeze right now for Native speakers. We are getting fewer classes right now
Saea
Novakid has a really bad management. Employers are so rude, the kids too. Where do they find them?? I have been teaching for 3 years now, i’ve never experienced something like this.
Jan
Some of the comments about them being rude or a scam because they don’t pay you 16/hr due to deductions has not been my experience. The onboarding process was indeed long. I applied during a hiring freeze and so I didn’t actually start working till about 6 months later. They have trials which pay half the rate but they actually have a good bonus for trial conversions. I also didn’t need to do a lot of trials when I started because my schedule filled up quickly with regular classes. Usually all my slots are scheduled and any help I need from staff is always done promptly. The ‘penalties’ are fair because it will only happen for situations that can possibly be avoided and if not, a pay deduction does not happen until you’ve already been penalized several times already. The students are great. I can compare that to Chinese/Latino companies and teaching in a Japanese classroom. Nova’s students really do stand out which makes it easier to teach. The material is great also. I enjoy working here.
Kyl Max
I have been with Novakid for almost 2 years now and it’s been a great journey. I would say that the pay is decent and it’s good that we can still decide our own schedule, despite having full-time job or business to manage.
In the recent event, our country was hit by a typhoon and majority of the teachers from our country were greatly affected. Novakid waved the penalties/deductions from those teachers. Wow! I mean what company would do that, right? They are truly awesome!
Another awesome thing that we have here is the best support system! They are our superheroes. Whenever a teacher has a problem, they respond quickly and give professional and kind messages. I remember being tired one time and couln’t attend the class, the first thing they told me was to take care of myself and to get some rest when it’s possible. They even reminded me about my health and they were really concern to offer help with anything. I am proud about that and glad for being here with Novakid.
If there are some of the things I would like to change/remove is the new incentive system. I think it’s affecting the website and a lot of teachers are dissapointed about this. I saw a lot of comments/messages that they felt demotivated after seeing the new metrics.
I think it would be better if the company will just give an appraisal to the deserving teacher after being in the company for a long time and having the profile evaluated. This would give the company higher retention and have more teachers happy.
Overall, Novakid is the best. I think its long wait from the interview, exams, demos, and profile activation is all 1005% worth it! I would definitely recommend it to my friends/relatives.
GAH
I applied to this co. yesterday and received a prompt reply. Here’s what I was sent; It’s so weird that I’m obligated to post it. Here it is:
We fully understand how this situation makes you feel. However, we have to rely on statistics and customer demand.
Unfortunately, as the current situation stands, the interest in native teachers has dropped. Our marketing and sales teams offer Native teachers to every customer, but the price is too high for most of them now.
We hope that this situation will improve soon. We are sorry for the inconvenience, and we hope for your understanding.
Kindest regards,
Novakid Teachers
Robert
I have been with Novakid for almost a year now and I can say that despite a very very long hiring and onboarding process, I am really happy I got in. A little tip for all the applicants: do the best you can in the interview/ demo. It is a crucial point and the better and more flexible you are, the sooner you’ll get a job. Best of luck.
Dusan Damnjanovic
Awful company I worked for them for 1 year. They have some imaginary pay raise system that doesn’t work. Their website is very glitchy and is very hard to conduct a lesson. Very often they don’t even pay you they just put ” maintainance site payout will be available in few days”. Booking is not stable. I had a perfect score for a year and didn’ t get 1 cent raise. I really belived that they will change and improve but they didn’t. When you have some technical problem because of the glitchy site you need to send an e-mail and they answer after 2 hours. Honestly it is just not worth it, don’t lose your precious time.
Louise Liebenberg
I have been working as an online teacher for the past 3 years now, mainly for Chinese companies. I started working for Novakid about a year ago and I can honestly say that it is the best company I have ever worked for. They are very professional, have great lesson material and by far the best teacher support system in the Industry. They offer a decent pay rate for Native teachers and offer great incentives and bonusses for trial conversions and even pay you for cancellations. No company is perfect and yes, Novakid has a very long onboarding process where new teachers have to wait a long period of time to start teaching, but in my opinion it is 100% worth the wait. Novakid is an excellent company and comes highly recommended.
SLIM SHADY
Shady company. I got an e-mail that I passed the grammar test, and 7 hours later, I’ve got another e-mail from a different recruiter saying how it was a mistake, and they wish me all the best? And yeah, they were Russian recruiters. I did the grammar well.
Miss Chicka
Like I said 3 years ago, shady company. Stay away. Any positive review should be labeled suspicious. It is a Russian company and could be a scam. Anastasia Lobovona is their recruiter.
Catharina Genis
Hi I am currently working for another online company. I have a TEFL and an Associates degree in TEACHING. I have 15years in classroom experience and 18 months experience at an online school, with nearly 3000 lessons at this school.
I would like to know if I should apply?
Una
I am currently working at Novakid, I have been an online teacher for a few years and have worked for about 5 companies. Novakid is by far the best 🙂 The pay is great at USD16 per hour. This is awesome for South African teachers ( we always get less for some reason or the other ) The support staff is great. You get paid when the student is absent, you get a nice bonus when a student converts to a regular student from a trial class, more bonuses for positive feedback from parents. The material is great and they are always in the process of upgrading. I love this company and highly recommend them 🙂
Luke
First of all, why do you suggest that getting paid if a student is absent is a unique “benefit” of Novakid? Of course you should get paid if a student books your time and is absent, literally EVERY company pays for absent students.
Secondly, it’s nice how you mention that that Novakid pays a bonus for converting trial students, but funny how you neglect to menton that Novakid only pays you 50% of your rate for teaching a trial, or that if a trial student is absent (atleast 50% of trial students are no shows) then you are only paid 20% of your rate, effectively filling your schedule and waisting your time for no pay. Other companies atleast let you choose whether you want to teach trials, not force you to and then cut your pay.
The “bonus” you get for positive parent feedback is ONE DOLLAR for every ten positive feedbacks (other companies literally pay $1 bonus or more per class)
$16 USD is not GREAT pay, and infact it’s below industry average. Novakid is infact one of the lower paying ESL companies.
Sorry but this is clearly a schill for Novakid, if not it’s a shame that you have been treated so badly by other companies that you actually think Novakid treats people well.
Sandra
I work for several companies including Novakid (VIPKid, Magic Ears, Engoo, Cambly) and Novakid is by far the worst. The HR staff are rude and disorganized. They are a Russian run company. Everything is your fault they never take responsibility for any problems. They are very negative and take micromanaging to an extreme level. Website and platform is very buggy, always has glitches, glitches during every lesson. Frustrating because the students have been lovely for the most part.
Angel
Novakid does not pay the 16 dollars per hour promised. There are deductions. Their classes are very regimental and they do not like a teachers personal touch in the class. Everything should be done by the book according to the teachers portal. They have set ideas as to how to teach each level and this can be intimidating for the teacher. It is not a choice of times as they will try to push you to work the early hours in the mornings and evenings especially at weekends but the classes are not booked. When you convert the student after the trial lesson, you do not see the student again in most cases.
They are not a good company to work for.
Dec
Novakid discriminates their applicants. They don’t care if you live in the US, Canada, Europe or Australia; whether you have more than 10 years of ESL teaching experience with TESOL and TEFL certicate, if you are not a native English speaker, they only offer $5 per hour. It’s a joke! $5 per hour??? My base pay for a 25 minute work with a different company is even much more than their offer. Plus they have a minimum working hours which is 20 hours per week. No way! I was hired but I declined. Offering $5/hour to an experienced and TESOL certificate holder Asian ESL teacher based in the US is a big insult.
Christine
I am in the hiring process. Just done interview. Could anyone who already teaches with Novakid fill me in on their minimum hours and cancelation policy…it seems very unforgiving and I am now beginning to question if it is right for me. My current company is very flexible.
ima-obong udoh
Hi Kyle, I am in the hiring process, I just did my grammar test. Can you tell me how the process went.
Jessy Harris
I am currently employed by Novakid. I think anyone that says anything bad about them is just misinformed or you just got the wrong idea. I wish each one could experience it for themself because you would quickly change your minds. This company is the best I’ve ever worked for and I will never leave as far as it depends on me. They treat me so kindly and they are fair AND the pay is incredible compared to other companies. I am extremely happy with them.
Laura
Hi Jessy.
Could you please tell me what Novakid’s peak hours are and what is the minimum amount of hours you need to work a week?
Thanks so much!
Ana Maria Rodriguez
I totally agree! The process of getting in isn’t easy but once you are there it’s totally fine. They give you all the help you ask for.
Lynne Springer
What time zone do the students reside in? Thank you,
Louise
Getting more and more expensive. Too expensive for what it is really.
We pay £20 now for 25 minutes a week for a native speaker.
The time our child did two lessons a week we paid £32 a week.
She has studied for 2 years at Novakid and her timetable isn’t for more than one lesson right now.
Teachers often change, come and go. So then her current brillant teacher stops we will end our supscription.
Jenni English
Sana, Claire and Juli, Please update your experience,I am also in the hiring process at the moment and to me the company looks really legit.
Is the problem here maybe not with the applicants’ English proficiency?
Heidi Brown
I applied and received a message from them in Russian. Anastasia sent me a sarcastic email when I inquired about why and said it was something i did wrong? Really? Took the test, but didnt have the correct answer choices to choose from. One word “carry” is a verb. Didnt have a verb as a choice. The entire test was poorly executed, directions were confusing, and honestly, was confused as to how anyone could pass it. This company is extremely shady. I think its a scam. Stay away from them! You may want to consider taking them off your list. This company smells FISHY. This company IS NOT BASED IN THE US. That is a flat out lie. Its really obvious it coming from Russia.
Beverley Kemp
How much does nova kid pay south African teachers
Juli
I just got hired and I am from SA. I get $16/h.
Claire
What good news! What are the incentives?
I am from SA and in the middle of the interview process. Any tips would be awesome.
Lynne Springer
Did Novakid hire you?
Sana
Hi Juli can you please assist with something? I am currently going through the hiring process.
Kyle
Hi Juli 🙂
I hope you are well. My name is Kyle. I just got hired by NovaKid and I’d love to chat with another South African teacher who works for them. Do you still work there? 🙂
Melissa
Hi, I’m currently doing my application. How much they offered you? I’m from SA thank you.
Sine
I am.
Meeti Gupta
Is Novakid based in Russia or USA?
Ksenia Karelina
At the beginning we were happy about the service, my son was so motivated and really had a good contact without teacher. But after first trial lesson something has started to get wrong. We have paid for 12 lessons in order to follow 3 times a week our teacher. But the system doesn’t allow you to have the lessons only with the teacher you prefer, there were no free time slots available of our teacher after 4 lessons, so we were told that we have to choose others. Otherwise, we lose all the paid lessons. Exactly this has happened. 7 lessons completed of 12. No response from support team either italian where we live, either russian where the company is based.
The teacher was GREAT, but all the rest is quite disappointing.
Tom Reeves
what a joke!!!!!! I teach full time class at a public school in Asia. When I set my CV I recived a request to take a vocabulary test as the next step. Five minutes after that I
got a rejection email from a lady named Anastasia Lukianova. This is not a US company -its some sort of Russian scam
Miss Chicka
Genevieve is a “plant”. She works as the hiring manager. Don’t believe a word she types. Plus, this isn’t a “North American” company. It’s Russian and caters to Russian/eastern European/ central Asian clients.
Rachel Paton
Well, I’m not a plant *looks at leaves~ although they do have that pay-discrepancy you speak of, which sucks.
Jenni
Hi Rachel I have my final interview next week but can’t seem to access their Novakid methodology course on http://www.teachable.com. Did you use it to prepare?
Mashuda
Hi Jenni
Did you eventually get access to teachable.com. I am still awaiting for them to grant me access as I was unable to access it with the details novakid had provided, and still no feedback.
Cheryl
Hi Jenni and Rachel
Did you guys get access to teachable?
Their wanting me to do my course, but I still cannot access teachable
Jenni
Not a word from Novakid still trying 6 months later….. Maybe just give it a miss. They keep sending me reminders. Still cannot access the methodology course
Tony Annuci
This company pays $16/hr (or $8/25min class — as stated above) to Americans, but if you check this link https://www.indeed.com.pe/jobs?q=English%20teacher&from=vj&l=Lima%2C%20Lima&vjk=a4aaf9b79a3c0344, you will see that they pay S/20 “soles” per hour in South America (that´s around $4/hr).
WHY THE DISCREPANCY in pay to non-first world countries? The clients from South America are paying the same fee for the classes as the clients in North America.
So, it is definitely a “shady” company that discriminates based on where one resides.
CC
If you check most English-teaching platforms, they pay less for non-Native speakers. My company pays tutors $2/hour. The highest salary tutors can get is $3/hour. I’m not a native speaker but my English proficiency is quite high. I have both a bachelor’s degree and a post-graduate degree in law, both of which require excellent English communication skills, but I get paid $3/hour with no benefits.
Native English Speaker with an Linguistic Degree
Neither a bachelor’s degree nor a post-graduate degree in law is a relevant degree for teaching English – which is why you are getting $3/hour.
Anon
Absolutely not true! It is just that those companies are making big difference between natives and non-natives, and your major does not have any impact on your salary, it’s the residence that counts, and if you have a bachelor’s degree or not.
Genevieve Joyner
I work for Nova and they arent hiring right now. They have a platform and provide teaching material. Ive had nothing be GOOD experience with this company, pay is 8 per 25 min class.
brittany
What is the scheduling like? Is it done way in advance, or flexible?
Miss Chicka
Scheduling is random, made by her, and posted through your page. But why would you want to work there? Read my first post. If it has changed, proceed but I doubt it.
Rachel Paton
you schedule your own hours when you first start.
Miss Chicka
Shady Company and or practices. Doesn’t have any material to teach the children and cannot show your own on their platform. Classes are hard to move around and cancel (2 weeks in advance). Unless they haven’t updated operations as of April 2018, Stay away.
Rachel Paton
they have updated. they have good materials and I trust them.