Voxy Review Summary

Voxy specializes in teaching adults through Task-Based Learning and pays a decent hourly rate, though compensation doesn’t cover the entire workload. You must also have over 3 years’ teaching experience and know a second language, but both Native and Non-Native Speakers can apply without a degree.

Pay (per hour):$15-18
Native / Non-Native Speakers accepted?Both
TEFL / TESOL / CELTA required?Yes
Degree / diploma required?No
Adult / child students?Adults
Class size:1-5
Minimum hours (per week):10

Voxy Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • No restrictions on nationality or degree (so long as you have an English teaching certification or are studying towards one)
  • Opportunity to teach adults and professional students
  • Some paid prep and feedback time
  • Paid orientation training
  • Flexible schedule in US daytime (EST)

Cons:

  • Must have at least 3 years’ experience teaching English to individuals and groups
  • Must be able to speak at least one ‘foreign’ (non-English) language
  • Lengthy and rigorous multi-stage interview process
  • Prep and feedback takes a lot longer than the compensated time
  • Singular methodology (TBL)
  • Not suitable for teachers who enjoy younger students

Is Voxy Legit?

Voxy is an English education company founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York, USA. Their legitimacy is underlined by their strategic partnership with Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, since 2013, while they have also been featured by The New York Times, CNN Money, Fast Company, Mashable, Univision, Veja (Brazil), and Venturebeat. Voxy attracts students from all over the world.

How Much Does Voxy Pay Teachers?

A Voxy teacher salary is paid on a part-time contract basis. Voxy English teacher pay ranges between US$15-18 per hour.

Unlike many other online ESL companies, Voxy does pay their teachers for 5-minutes’ prep time per class, providing an additional $2.50 per hour. Feedback following one-on-one classes is also paid at $2.50 for 10 minutes/two paragraphs, which must be completed within 12 hours. It’s reported, however (in the Voxy reviews below), that prep/admin time usually takes longer than this, so you’ll still be putting in some unpaid work. An additional bonus is that orientation training is paid at the base rate and can amount to 9.5 hours.

Payment is made twice a month into a US bank account or PayPal (minus an international transfer fee of 4.4% for using the latter), after you have completed and submitted Voxy’s invoice template in Google Sheets.

Voxy teachers have the opportunity of a pay rise of $0.50 every 6 months.

Full pay is given for student no-shows of 10/15 minutes (for group/one-on-one classes), however, recurrent teacher absences for any reason (including technical problems or power cuts) can result in instant termination.

Voxy Hours

Voxy group classes last 30 minutes, while private classes can be 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes long. Teachers must make themselves available for a minimum of 10 hours per week (including 2-4 hours on the weekend) between the hours of 9am-12pm and 1pm-6pm (Eastern Standard Time), Monday to Sunday.

Group classes are assigned every two weeks, meaning your calendar will show up to three weeks of classes in advance.

Voxy Requirements

  • You must have at least 3 years of English teaching experience, including individual and group sessions, online, and task-based language learning (check out Lingo Live for other TBL jobs).
  • You must be a certified English language teacher (or be studying to become one).
  • You must have one or more ‘foreign’ (non-English) language skills (preferably Spanish or Portuguese)
  • You must be passionate about language learning and helping others achieve their language goals.

Voxy doesn’t express any nationality requirements, so if you are qualified and experienced according to the above criteria, so long as your accent is neutral, they should consider you regardless of whether you’re a Native or Non-Native Speaker.

Voxy also doesn’t ask for a degree/diploma, just that you have or are studying for English teaching certification (specifically TEFL, CELTA, DELTA or an MA/PhD in TESOL).

Technical Requirements

  • You must be tech-savvy and a proactive problem-solver able to troubleshoot technical problems.
  • You must have a computer with a good quality video camera.
  • You must have a separate headset with a microphone.
  • You must be connected to the internet via a hardwired ethernet cable (no wifi).
  • Your internet connection must be strong and reliable, with a minimum upload speed of 4.5 Mbps (you can check your internet speed here).

Voxy Application Process

The Voxy interview process receives an average difficulty rating of 3.1 out of 5 on Glassdoor, with 62% of candidates reporting a negative interview experience. Both scores are quite high compared to what we’ve seen elsewhere in the industry.

There are 5 steps to the Voxy application process, which is supposed to take just over two weeks to complete, though candidates have reported it lasting, in reality, anywhere between 7 weeks to over 3 months:

Step 1: Voxy Application

Begin the Voxy application process by submitting your personal information here, including your:

  • First and last name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Location (city)
  • Resume/CV (upload)
  • Cover letter (upload) outlining: 1) Why do you love teaching ESL? 2) How would you be a good fit for Voxy’s task-based, contextual learning methodology? 3) What do you like about task-based teaching?
  • Education (schools, degrees, disciplines, and dates)
  • English language proficiency
  • English teaching certifications (e.g. TEFL, CELTA, DELTA, MA or PhD in TESOL)
  • Copies of your certificates (upload)
  • Have you ever taught online before? (yes/no)
  • How many years of teaching English experience do you have?
  • Time zone
  • Internet Service Provider
  • Internet speed results (tested here)
  • Computer hardware specifications (date, brand, and model)
  • Google Suite (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Calendar) proficiency
  • Online video platform proficiency (e.g. Zoom, Moodle)
  • Online teaching platform proficiency (e.g. Cambly, Wyzant, Skooli)
  • Where you saw the job posting
  • Do you speak Spanish or Portuguese?

To help you write your cover letter (and answer the highlighted questions above), here is a video from Voxy’s CEO explaining their methodology:

Step 2: Assignment

Should you match Voxy’s requirements, they will send you a short assignment to complete over a couple of days. Typically, this will be a lesson plan you’ll have to design around a prescribed topic (previously, the learner objective has been to make an appointment with the dentist to have a wisdom tooth removed). As Voxy’s specialty is Task-Based Learning (TBL), your lesson must conform to this format.

Step 3: 1st Voxy Interview

If you pass the assignment, you will be invited for an initial screening interview on Google Hangouts, where you will be asked about your experience, motivation for the position, availability, and receive information about Voxy’s systems and payment structure. You will get familiar with their site and watch videos on the company which you’ll then be tested on. Lastly, you’ll have to plan another lesson based upon their methods and aimed at low-level students (a past topic given was regarding days out in one’s hometown).

Step 4: 2nd Voxy Interview

Should you pass the first Voxy interview, you’ll be invited back for a second, which will test your teaching methodology and ability to communicate grammatical knowledge through situational based questions. For example, ‘what would you do if a student said “yesterday I go to the park”?’ ‘What if he continued to make the mistake?’, etc.

Step 5: Start Voxy Online Teaching

Once you pass the second and final interview, you will receive your offer to join Voxy.

Voxy online teaching is conducted in 30-minute group classes (for 4-5 students) or private classes (lasting 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes), and is intended to complement the student’s understanding of the company’s self-study resources (in a manner similar to Zebra English). Depending on the category (grammar, conversation, communication, role play, writing) and the level, you will be required to choose a resource from Voxy’s database and plan a lesson around it, including warm-up questions/lead-ins, CCQs (Concept Checking Questions) and a task. Private classes have to be personalized with the student’s individual and real world needs in mind.

After-class work entails submitting an attendance report for group classes (which should take around 30 seconds), and writing two paragraphs of feedback within 12 hours of private classes (you’ll be compensated for 10 minutes of your time for this). Feedback should resemble this:

Your feedback is checked monthly for compliance purposes, group classes are observed each month, while private classes are recorded every 3 months. Your observation scores feature in your monthly reports, along with your response rate to emails (within 24 hours), feedback response rate (within 12 hours), number of no-shows, and any negative evaluations. These reports will be used to determine whether you receive a pay rise after 6 months.

This introductory video from Voxy (though aimed at students) provides some insight into their platform and how classes are delivered:

Voxy Reviews

Voxy reviews on Glassdoor give the company an average rating of 3.4 out of 5, with 56% willing to recommend them to a friend.

Below are the most recent Voxy teacher reviews (at the time of writing), which you’ll see are fairly mixed. The most common positives are the nature of the students and the flexible work, while there is some negative consensus over the amount of unpaid prep/admin work that’s required. Opinions on pay, teaching materials, management and support are more divergent and subjective:

Conclusion – Is Voxy Worth It?

Voxy pays more than many online companies that teach adult learners, so if this is your ideal type of student and you don’t mind (or even prefer) a more corporate culture that implements TBL exclusively, then they should be considered. Be prepared for the extra unpaid workload that accompanies this though, along with the rigorous hiring process candidates must undergo. They’re not an option for beginners due to the requirement of 3 years’ teaching experience, and the need to be proficient in a language other than English will preclude many (though might benefit Non-Native Speakers).

You can apply to Voxy here.

A full list of other online teaching companies can be found here.

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Dr Daniel Spence

Daniel Spence is the founder of Online Teaching Review. He has been an international teacher since 2008, an award-winning academic, author of two books, and holds a PhD, MA, BA (Hons), and TESOL.

3 Comments

Laura · 03/08/2021 at 9:03 pm

Thank you Daniel!!

    Grace · 09/30/2021 at 12:47 pm

    Yes, Thanks a lot.

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