Pros
While I have more cons than pros, there ARE a few perks which prevents my rating from having only 1 star. One is the flexibility of your work schedule. While other reviewers are correct about the lack of available hours on the schedule much of the time, you can still log on and "float" at any time you want. This means that you can set yourself to "available" and tutor extra students not covered by the tutors on the schedule. The big difference is that a floating tutor is not paid for waiting, so while you may have a set hourly wage, that wage is only for an hour of *in-session* time. You have a separate and smaller wage for waiting time (if on the schedule) and you are not paid at all to wait if floating. You can also remove hours from the schedule if they end up not working (which is so different from other jobs), but the higher ups hate this and send you emails letting you know that they're keeping track of tutors who remove hours within less than 24 hours notice, removing some of the flexibility. (See, I can't even write the pros without the cons sneaking in there) Another pro is the ability to take a break whenever you need one (if not scheduled on that hour). If you had a bad session and need a break from it, you can take that break. You can even do this while scheduled, but you HAVE to be there for at least 70% of your total scheduled hours or it will factor negatively into your assessment given by your mentor (who will be discussed later in the con section). It's better to reserve the freebie 30% for emergencies/inconveniences (car breaks down, alarm doesn't go off in the morning, get a monster case of the trots while scheduled). Another nice perk is being able to surf the web/listen to music while you work (if you have a student slow to respond).
Cons
Here we go... Let's start with the reason I'm able to write this extensive review while "available" as a floating tutor. The major holidays are your worst enemy when trying to make some extra cash. It's totally dead right now and I wasn't able to get ANY scheduled hours. I know that people who work in retail totally hate how tough working during this time of year is, but it's better to make that extra cash than to make none at all. There are definitely dry spells and you feel like you're wasting your time at the computer (and you kind of are). The summer months and Christmas break are the harder times to make money. Let's move onto the students. At least 60-70% are civil or pleasant and willing to work with you as you attempt to conduct the session under tutor.com's many rules for conducting sessions. The remainder however are a pain in your rear, and it's your challenge to remain calm and collected as they tell you to hurry up, cuss at you, type in caps at you (yell at you),refuse to do any work, etc. If it gets really bad, you have a block button, but you're discouraged from using it in their rule book (which is really long, by the way). This is where I move onto the mentor. Your mentor is really your boss as has been mentioned in other reviews, and every month or so you get an assessment from them basically detailing anything you did wrong (it's so hard reading them). 9.5 times out of 10, bad sessions with students such as I have described earlier are your fault. It's their job to make it your fault. If you try and defend your action(s) and supply logical reasons for the way you conducted the session, it's usually met with no response or more arguing. Only once was I able to correct the mentor -- but I had concrete proof of the error. Interestingly enough, the senior mentors (your mentor's boss) are more discerning and can more easily tell when a bad session was unavoidable -- they won't always lay the blame on the tutor. It showed me that the mentors are learning themselves from higher ups and are subject to their own assessments. However, whenever you try to follow the guidelines as closely as you can, you'll find that some students get more angry and leave you bad ratings (which affect bonuses and even job security). If you try to bend the guidelines a little bit (usually construed as "giving answers") and adjust so that as many students leave happy as possible (high ratings), management reams you for it, you have more arguments, and you don't get promoted. It's a vicious cycle. It's not really worth the extra stress and bad ratings to make each and every session totally perfect just for a promotion, because you won't make that much more. Another con is the loneliness and sedentary lifestyle factors. It's tough to get as many hours as possible (I think 30 is the max you're allowed) and you do so much sitting. You don't get to talk to other tutors and don't have coworkers. Being in front of the computer so much means that you're not out there networking and meeting people, which is sort of keeping you trapped with tutor.com (if you're in dire need of the job/money). It's not a job you can live off of because it's part time and there are no benefits. All in all, I'm thankful that this job is here, but I find myself looking for greener pastures in the future.