Frequently Asked Questions

The online application takes about 10 minutes to complete. After reviewing each application, we invite qualified candidates to participate in a one-way video interview, which takes approximately 35-45 minute. Depending on how quickly you complete your interview, you can receive a hiring decision within 8 business days of applying. For more details, please review our Application Process page. If you’re ready to apply, we’re ready to meet you! Apply here.

For BookNook’s one-way video interview, we’ll send you a few questions over video. When you’re ready, you’ll use our video tool to record your answers, along with a short teaching demonstration. Making your videos is as simple as clicking a link and recording from your computer camera and microphone. You’ll have the opportunity to re-record several times if you like and select your best take. This asynchronous process allows you to complete your interview at a convenient time for you and helps us review submissions and make hiring decisions more quickly.

Though you won’t meet with us live during the hiring process, we assure you that we are, in fact, real humans! We love getting to know you through your interview videos, and you’ll have the opportunity to get to know us through Zoom office hours and webinars after you’re hired. 

Please refer to our Application Process page for complete details on candidate qualifications and what else we’re looking for. 

All BookNook tutors must have a US address and US bank account. 

Please note that our school district partners require that all tutors complete a background check with fingerprints.

BookNook’s system offers tutoring opportunities to eligible tutors via email at least 10 days before the scheduled start of the program. Tutors will have 12 hours to accept or decline the series of appointments. Additionally, substitute appointments become available throughout the program and will be available for qualified tutors to pick up in our BookNook Platform.

Please note that our school district partners require that BookNook tutors pass a background check to work with their students. Tutors can only sign up for opportunities for which they have the appropriate background check clearance. Don't worry! Our team will guide you through the process of getting background checks needed and will reimburse you for those expenses. See our Background Check FAQ below to learn more. 

Each BookNook tutoring session is 30-45 minutes long, but we rarely conduct single sessions. Research shows that the best outcomes in tutoring occur when tutors and students have a consistent relationship. So when you sign up for a BookNook tutoring opportunity, you’re signing up for 2–5 sessions per week for 8-16 weeks with the same group of 1–4 students. Tutors have the opportunity to tutor multiple groups of students on the same day as long as the schedules don’t conflict.

Tutoring with BookNook is an excellent way to supplement your income while helping students learn and love to read. On average tutors work between 1.5 hours and 29.5 hours a week, no minimum hours required. Our tutoring opportunities are 8–16 weeks long, and there may be gaps between programs. We recommend all interested candidates apply, start tutoring and gaining experience with our platform and join our online community to access amazing tutoring resources and meet peers. Once you’re hired, your ability to contract with us will not expire.

Tutors work with students in K–8th grades in small groups of 1–4. 

Yes! While we ideally like our tutors to work year-round, we understand that tutoring work may be seasonal for you. You will still have access to our tutor system to sign up for tutoring opportunities whenever you’re available.

After passing the application and interview process, you’ll need to complete the following steps to start tutoring:

• Sign your contract
• Provide bank information for payroll, as we pay by direct deposit
• Complete BookNook’s certification course to learn our tutoring platform and portal; this is an online course is paid at your tutoring rate of pay.
• Complete at least one background check; we reimburse most associated fees—keep reading below for more details!

Since we work with students through school districts, our district partners require that BookNook tutors meet requirements similar to their classroom teachers, including background checks. Often, these requirements are set at the district or state level. 

 Tutors must complete at least one background check to start tutoring. Some districts we work with have different background check requirements. BookNook has a dedicated team to assist you in the background check process—we’ll recommend which background checks to start with, offer online office hours to talk through the process, and answer questions via our tutor support site. We also reimburse all background check fees except for travel/mileage, including vendor registration, hard copy fingerprint servicing, and notary fees. 

Just like other employers, school districts require their own background checks for adults who work with students to ensure the most up-to-date information is reviewed before providing a clearance.