goFLUENT Review Summary

goFLUENT is a corporate training company hiring first or second language speakers to teach adult clients. Classes are 1v1 or in groups for 30-90 minutes. A degree is required, plus some relevant experience. Pay is $9-12 an hour, depending on location, and you must offer 30 hours a week.

goFLUENT Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Will hire trainers who speak English as a second language
• Schedule flexibility – possible to condense the weekly commitment into a couple of days
• Do not have to create your own teaching materials, so less prep
• Corporate, adult learners will suit some teachers better

Cons:

• Low rate of pay which varies depending on the country you are located in
• Must pass up to 2 interviews
• English Trainers need to be available for 30 hours a week
• Lesson demand is seasonal, with fewer hours during the summer period and December to February
• Training is no longer paid and takes 40 hours to complete (48 hours if you want to teach groups)
• Some teachers will miss not having child students

Is goFLUENT Legit?

goFLUENT is a longstanding and legitimate business language training company that has been in existence from the year 2000. Since then it has won multiple awards and assisted more than 200,000 learners to grow into a truly global company, with offices located in dozens of countries across the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Here is a video introduction to the company:

goFLUENT eLearning

goFLUENT utilizes over 5,000 business-related training resources that are updated daily, with levels corresponding to the TOEIC and Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

There are several types of lessons:

• Individual lessons (1v1)
• Group lessons (up to 5 learners)
• Writing lessons
• Conversation classes
• Face-to-face (on-site) language training

With special courses in:

• Test Preparation
• Accent Refinement
• English for Native English Speakers
• Cross-cultural Communication
• Custom Content

This video outlines goFLUENT’s e-learning philosophy:

goFLUENT Languages

goFLUENT delivers training in 12 business languages:

• English
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dutch
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish

goFLUENT Platform

Language lessons are delivered via Microsoft Teams through ‘Emile’, the goFLUENT portal.

goFLUENT Salary Information

Salary information is not disclosed by the company, though we had a Corporate English Trainer there inform us that goFLUENT pay rates vary according to which country you are located in. For example, they confirmed that:

• South Africa = US$9 per hour
• Germany = EUR€12 per hour
• Portugal = EUR€10 per hour
• Brazil = US$10 per hour

Another goFLUENT English trainer in New York reported on Indeed that they earned around $1,300 a month for 120 hours work (30 hours a week), which would constitute an hourly rate of $10.83 (though this was over 3 years ago):

The annual salary information submitted by Glassdoor reviewers ranges between $21-$26K a year.

Payments are issued at the beginning of each month via bank transfer or Payoneer.

goFLUENT Hours

goFLUENT operates 24/7, though an individual’s working hours vary depending on their position. Opportunities for both part-time and full-time work exist. English Trainers must be available for 30 hours a week. This does not have to be spread out across the entire week, and there is flexibility to choose a schedule of two 15-hour days, if one so chooses.

Demand for lessons is seasonal, so you can expect fewer hours over December to February and during the summer months.

As most students are English learners, there are fewer hours for teachers of other languages.

Teaching sessions are typically 30 minutes in length for bite-sized learning, or 60-90 minutes for more comprehensive lessons.

The goFLUENT cancellation policy used to be more flexible, with no penalties. However, they have become a lot stricter since losing two clients over trainers cancelling lessons. Now, trainers find they risk being let go if they cancel, and are not informed of the monthly limit for lesson cancelations (or if there is one).

goFLUENT Requirements

Several different education-related roles are on offer at goFLUENT, and the precise requirements vary accordingly. For example:

• Home-Based Online English Teacher:
  • Must be willing to work from home
  • Must have an energetic, pleasant, and engaging personality
  • Understands the principles of adult learning
  • A college/bachelor’s degree is required
  • Training, teaching, or tutoring experience , preferably to a group (Minimum of 1 year)
  • Business and/or corporate experience (Minimum of 3 years)
  • First or second language must be English with excellent English communication skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing – grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.)
  • On-camera teaching experience is an advantage
  • able to multitask using different platforms for teaching
  • Fluency in other languages is a plus
  • Good computer skills
  • Know how to multitask
  • Quiet, dedicated workspace
  • PC or Mac (laptop or desktop):
    • Windows 10 or higher
    • Mac – OS 10.12.6 (OS Sierra) or higher
    • Processor – Intel Core i5/i7 or equivalent
    • 8 GB RAM
    • 10 GB of available disk space
  • A noise-cancelling computer headset with a microphone
  • High-speed Internet connection (Download 10 Mbps, Upload 10 Mbps)
  • Webcam capability (internal or external)
• Home-Based Instructional Content Writer:
  • 1-3 years of experience in EFL/ESL teaching, writing/editing instructional content, and/or business writing/editing
  • A college degree (those with a degree in English, linguistics, language teaching, or a related field will be prioritized)
  • Excellent command of the English language
  • Keen attention to detail and an excellent memory for guidelines
  • Competent knowledge of office software suites and some experience in multimedia
  • Strong online research skills
  • The ability to multitask and to work in a constantly evolving environment
  • High-speed Internet access (download speed of 10Mbps/upload speed of 10Mbps)
  • A PC or laptop with Windows 10 or higher or MAC with 10.11.6 (OS X El Capitan) or higher
  • A quiet, dedicated workspace
  • An audio device, such as a headset, for taking calls and meetings
• Learning Consultant:
  • Are outstanding at communicating, both orally and written
  • Have previous successful experience in customer support
  • Are very empathic and able to solve complex conversations in order to give a smile to customers
  • Are an organized, responsive, sincere and autonomous person
  • 1 to 4 years experience in customer service
  • Internet savvy and proficient in MS Office, Google Docs and Open Office
  • Advanced level of English (verbal and written)
  • Bachelor’s/College Degree in any field

goFLUENT Hiring Process

Vacancies are listed on the goFLUENT careers page. If you don’t see a suitable position currently available, then you are still invited to apply for an ‘Open Application’.

The goFLUENT application form requests the following information:

• Full Name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Secondary phone number or email address
• Where do you live?
• Are you open to relocate?
• Cover Letter
• Resume (upload)
• What is your current annual salary?
• What is your expected annual salary?
• Agree to the terms and conditions & privacy policy

English Teaching applicants are required to send a video introducing themselves in English and their native language.

goFLUENT Interview Process

If you pass the initial screening, you will be invited to two online interviews, one which features a teaching demo and technical check, and another with your prospective Trainer Manager who will provide further details about the job, including your pay.

Here is a list of past goFLUENT interview questions that candidates were asked:

• Why are you interested in this position?
• Why do you want to work as an English trainer?
• Why do you want to work at this company?
• What is your previous experience?
• Where do you work now and what are your responsibilities?
• What are your interests and future prospects?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• How do you like to be managed?
• What is your expected salary?
• What is the difference between ‘to speak’ and ‘to hear’?
• How many conditional tenses are there in English?
• How can you motivate learners to prepare for their English Lessons?
• Talk about your hobby for ten minutes
• Google an image of something to show your ability to use the internet
• Can you quickly search for the names of the parts of an airplane, if a learner in an aviation business requested that during a lesson?

There are also teaching exercises, such as:

“How would you describe to a student, without the use of any images or video, what is:

1. an ‘umbrella’
2. the difference between ‘smile’ and ‘laugh’
3. the difference between ‘come’ and ‘go’

You may also be asked to correct the following sentence:

“My name is Mario Stefano. I have 43 years. My marriage happened in fifteen years. I worked in Fiat since ten years. I do engineer. I am writing reports everyday. I use daily English for email my coworkers in other country. I will come to United States in next year. I want also to travel to Australia.”

goFLUENT Training Process

goFLUENT expects all recruits to undergo extensive training, known as ‘New Trainer Orientations’ (NTOs). It takes 40 hours to complete this for one-on-one teaching and an additional 8 hours to qualify for group teaching, and trainees are no longer paid for this time.

The goFLUENT training schedule consists of:

1. Self-study (including videos, audios, interactive quizzes, etc., to prepare you for the live training) – this self-study must be completed at least 24 hours prior to the start of the live NTO Training, and takes at least 6-8 hours to complete.
2. Live Training – training sessions with a facilitator on Skype. Usually for 2 days, 7.5 hours each day.
3. Practice Lesson – a live lesson with a goFLUENT associate to check how well you apply the goFLUENT methodology. 
4. Practice Lesson Coaching – the practice lesson is discussed and pointers are provided; this is usually scheduled on the same day of the practice lesson. 
5. NTO Certification Test – the final exam at the end of your training. 

goFLUENT Reviews

The goFLUENT Glassdoor page currently gives the company an overall rating of 3.7 out of 5, with a 68% recommendation score (from over 200 goFLUENT job reviews). Here is the summary, with many positive comments collated regarding the work environment, and most negative views reflecting the pay and absence of benefits:

The goFLUENT Indeed page provides a similar rating of 3.9 out of 5. Here are two of the more recent reviews there which provide contrasting experiences:

A Corporate English Trainer currently at goFLUENT contacted us to share their experience (quoted verbatim):

• Pros:
  • Great Trainer Managers
  • Very supportive of trainers. Protect trainers from less-friendly learners
  • Everyone treats each other kindly, from the Training and Standards team to Operations Support, to Managers. It’s a good company to work for. 
• Cons:
  • Pay is low
  • Training is unpaid
  • All meetings with your Trainer Manager until you’ve been in the company for 6 months are unpaid (but like I said, my Manager is very conscious of this, so keeps these to a minimum)
  • Would be nice to be able to have some sort of career progression
  • Personally, I think the 30-minute lesson format can quickly wear you out
  • Unless we ask, we have no idea what are the KPI’s or how well or poorly we are doing with them

Conclusion – Is goFLUENT Worth It?

It seems that many goFLUENT teachers have enjoyed working for the company, in spite of what is still a relatively low rate of pay. However, you must be available for almost full-time hours to be kept on, which could interfere with other teaching jobs, while the company is becoming stricter about cancellations. The 40-48 hours of unpaid training is also a huge commitment, and the lack of younger students will not suit everyone.

You can apply for goFLUENT online teaching jobs here.

A list of other companies can be found here.