How to Deal with Rejection from Student’s Parents
The flexibility and independence that come with tutoring have made it a popular employment choice for many individuals. As a tutor, you will be free to select the clients you wish to engage with, set your own hours and work around them, and, in a sense, run your own business. In addition to the freedom tutoring provides, there is the fulfillment of being able to support students who are having difficulty in their academics or who wish to improve. You will know that you support your students as they accomplish their academic objectives.
However, nothing is ever easy and tutoring is the same. While it may sound fairly laid-back, there are also some factors that many people don’t consider about this career choice. Tutoring is basically a freelancing job, and in every freelancing job, you will have to pitch your services to prospective clients in hopes they hire you. And of course, it’s not always that they hire you.
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How to deal with rejection in tutoring?
Nearly everyone has already encountered rejection, and many people are already familiar with the word. It’s also not a fun experience. If you work as a home tutor, you can encounter parents who are open to hiring you (especially if you’re just starting out). Even if you have the necessary credentials and qualifications, some people will still turn down your proposal.
Now, some parents may offer a reason why they rejected your services while others may not. The latter can leave you feeling uncertain as to why your services have been rejected. It’s common for home tutors to feel down when they are rejected by clients, even experienced tutors feel it too. However, if you are a new home tutor and you’ve met your first rejection, don’t let it dissuade you from continuing this career.
With that being said, there are some ways for tutors to help deal with rejections and get past client rejections in order to help you move forward in this industry and also grow as a home tutor.
1. Get feedback from parents
Numerous things can make you stand out to potential employers, but there are also numerous reasons why they might not choose to hire you. Occasionally, they may find your profile insufficient. In other cases, it might be your qualifications or experiences. Having stated that, review and critically evaluate your home tutor profile. As you examine it, you might notice some mistakes you haven’t noticed previously, including misspellings or inaccurate dates. Perhaps you could also make it more striking by revising and amplifying it.
In addition to reviewing your profile, you can get input from potential clients. You might occasionally overlook things that someone else might see if you’ve viewed something too often. Asking them how to make it sound more credible is another option.
We would advise choosing your areas of expertise while trying to update your profile. You can enumerate them and include the methods you employ to instruct this particular subject in accordance with various learning requirements and preferences. Parents and other clients will be able to notice your skills more readily in this way. Having a specific area of expertise will aid parents who are looking for assistance for their children in those areas, even though it may sound good to suggest that you can teach at all levels. Parents are more likely to seek out an algebra tutor than one who says they can teach math from elementary school through high school.
2. Mind the price of your rate
Rates for tutors vary depending on a number of things, including credentials, experience, and even references. Additionally, some tutors may charge extra for their specialized subject areas, meals, and transportation. Some home tutors may charge more, but some charge less.
One of the reasons why parents could turn down a tutor is the budget for the fee. The cost of a home tutor’s services may drive some parents to turn them away. You have to realize that tutoring is sometimes a highly competitive field, and as a result, many parents will choose not to engage a tutor who charges more if they are still relatively unknown. You should be able to look up the current prices of the majority of home tutors in the area you want to attract clients from as a home tutor. It’s also important to keep in mind all the other costs that tutoring may entail, such as transportation costs between your pupils’ homes, particularly if one of them lives far away from the others. Experiences and credentials also play a significant role in determining whether to raise or cut your prices.
As an example, in FamilyTutor, there are three categories of tutors parents can choose from: part-time, full-time, and NIE-trained. All of our tutors are familiar with the MOE curriculum and syllabus; however, they are different in experience, flexibility, and rate. Part-timers are mostly consisting of students who are still studying to complete their undergraduate degree or even some professionals from different fields who want to share their expertise with students. Full-timers are those who have made tutoring their career and are committed to developing their skills to better teach students. NIE-trained tutors are those who are or have previously taught in a MOE school. Obviously, part-timers will charge less than full-time and NIE-trained tutors because of the experience and qualifications the latter can offer more.
Now, it may come off as confusing at times if you should price your services higher or lower. To make things easier for you, consider signing up for a home tuition agency. This way, the agency will be helping you to manage your profile and rates for you. It can also be helpful especially if you’re just starting out in home tuition so you can focus more on developing your skills in tutoring rather than spend more time marketing yourself to get new students.
3. Take the time to review the rejections
Of course, emotions like sadness and despair can take over when someone is rejected. But once you’ve got your thoughts straight, it’s also beneficial to spend some time considering the reasons behind the rejection. You might want to ask yourself some questions now. Do you charge too much? Do you live in a region with excessive competition? Are your credentials and qualifications appealing enough to attract clients? Which of your areas of expertise can you exploit as a niche, or are there too many home instructors providing the same service? Is there a market for the unique topic you’re offering?
As mentioned before, getting feedback from the parents themselves will help you better market yourself. You can also narrow down the list of your selling points and what makes you a good home tutor fit for their sons and daughters. Once you have gone over why you may have been rejected, it will help you make the changes to help you get the clients the next time.
4. Don’t take the rejection personally
Rejections are a part of the job, and while it can be difficult, your first rejection might not be your last. Therefore, our last piece of advice is to not take the rejection personally. Who knows? Perhaps there was a reason for the rejection. Perhaps the student wasn’t the ideal fit for you, or the next client might have a better offer in store for you.
Although it’s normal to feel depressed following a rejection, you shouldn’t let it depress you and stop tutoring right away. Rather, take the rejection as a teaching moment. Utilize it as a guide, check your profile, and make any required adjustments. Even seasoned tutors have encountered rejection, but it hasn’t stopped them from continuing their tutoring career. Seek alternative methods to enhance your teaching abilities, such as enrolling in various courses and programs, rather than pouting and feeling sorry for yourself.
Conclusion
It won’t always be simple to begin your job in home tuition, or any other field. If you are just starting out, you will need to figure out how to convince the parents and pupils you want to work with that you are a good fit. Even while some parents will likely hire you and others could turn you down, you shouldn’t give up. To succeed in your chosen career path, keep in mind that you must be persistent and persistent. You will undoubtedly be able to attract students and demonstrate to them and their parents that you possess the skills necessary to be the greatest at-home tutor available if you put in a lot of effort and patience. Continue to give it your all!
Carelle
Carelle is a teacher who has been through the ups and downs of the teacher and learner life. She wishes for every learner to gain educational satisfaction that will help embody the people they want to be in the future.
