Teaching online is one of the easiest ways to start your career as a TEFL teacher. We’ve put together some useful information and tips to help you navigate the world of online teaching as a newbie.

By the end of this article, you’ll be ready with an action plan to get out there and find your first online teaching job!

Steps to teaching English online (at a glance)

Here is a straightforward overview of how to start teaching English online with no prior experience.

• Get TEFL qualified through an accredited 120-hour course. All online English teaching positions will require that you are TEFL-certified during the application process.
• Set up your online teaching toolkit. This generally includes a laptop, stable WiFi, a headset, webcam, and good lighting.
• Build a strong teacher profile and CV highlighting transferable skills. These could be tutoring or your own experience learning a new language.
• Record a high-impact introduction video. Most platforms require this, and it’s an important part of the application process so that both potential students and platform hosts can get to know you.
• Apply to multiple platforms that don’t require experience. A few popular options include iTalki, Preply, and PalFish.
• Practise and refine your demo lesson. This provides an example of your teaching style and personality for prospective students.

Now that you have a clear path to getting started teaching English online, let’s dive a bit deeper!

Do you need experience to teach English online?

Good news: experience isn’t (always) necessary to teach English online. There are plenty of online teaching companies out there that don’t ask for any previous teaching experience, as long as you have at least a 120-hour accredited TEFL qualification.

Bear in mind that just because you might not have direct experience teaching English, that doesn’t mean you don’t have experience elsewhere that employers are after. If you’ve taught in other capacities, that’s hugely beneficial when applying for online TEFL jobs.

Have you trained people in the workplace? Given presentations? All relevant! And if you’re applying for a job teaching young learners, be sure to emphasise any experience you have working with children.

Tutoring, volunteering, conversation exchanges, and any personal foreign language learning are all great examples of transferable experiences that you can add to your CV.

Why teach English online as a new teacher?

Teaching English online has one of the lowest barriers to entry in the world of TEFL. There’s no relocation or visa headaches, and even having a degree isn’t always required.

For new teachers, you’ll build valuable classroom experience quickly. Depending on the platform, you might even start within a few days of being hired. This can be a great way to get started and see whether moving abroad to teach English is actually right for you. Ultra-flexible scheduling also makes it easy to fit around your current job or university studies.

Many of the top TEFL platforms are designed with beginners in mind and have structured lessons and a set curriculum, taking some of the pressure off planning. Teaching English online can lead to higher-paying private tutoring gigs once you have a good amount of hours under your belt.

10+ Best Platforms to Teach English Online With No Experience (2026)

Below you’ll find a table detailing the requirements for a number of online teaching companies that don’t ask for experience. While we take every effort to provide you with up-to-date information, online teaching companies do regularly change and update their hiring criteria, so make sure to do your own research, too.

How much can you realistically earn?

For beginners, it can be tricky to know how much you’ll earn as an online English teacher. In your first month, $200 to $800 is a realistic takeaway, depending on how many hours you can devote and which platform you work for when you start teaching.

Full-time online English teachers typically make between $25,000 and $50,000 annually, while part-time teachers can expect to bring in anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000.

5 tips for finding an online teaching job if you have no teaching experience

Just earned your TEFL certification? Use these five tricks to find an online teaching job, even with no experience.

Get a quality TEFL certificate

First things first, you need to get TEFL certified if you want an online teaching job but have no experience. Make sure you get your qualification through a properly accredited course provider (like the TEFL Org), which will make sure you’re suitably prepared and ready to start teaching for the first time.

One of the first things employers look at is accreditation, so if you’re an inexperienced teacher, a cheap Groupon TEFL course isn’t going to cut it. Accreditation is a form of external quality control, which helps give you and employers confidence that the course is everything it claims to be.

In terms of how long the qualification should be, 120 hours is the industry standard. Level 5 courses (which are Ofqual-regulated) include more hours of study and are a good option if you’re looking for more comprehensive training.

But there’s no need to go overboard — doing hundreds of hours of training isn’t going to open up any more opportunities or better-paid jobs; it just means you’ll take significantly longer to get qualified and into paid work.

Put together a strong CV

You need to do a good job of selling yourself and standing out from the crowd, both with your CV and your teacher profile.

Think about what you can do to boost your CV, whether it’s with advanced TEFL training or volunteering, for example. Make sure you’re showing all of your relevant skills and experience in the best possible light. Get a friend or family member to read it through and give it a proofread.

While your CV is important, perhaps even more crucial is creating your teacher profile. This gives students the chance to connect with you and learn more about your experience.

Work on a strong opening sentence to hook potential students, highlight your strengths, and know your audience demographics. Are you a teacher of young learners? Are you a business English tutor? Do you specialise in exam prep? Be sure to emphasise this somewhere in your profile to attract the right clients.

Check out TEFL Org’s CV guide and TEFL teacher/tutor profile guide for helpful tips, and if you’re a TEFL Org student, you can take advantage of our CV builder as well!

Record a strong demo lesson and introduction video

Demo lessons are a very common part of the application and interview process for online teaching jobs. You may be required to record one in advance or deliver it live in front of an interviewer or panel of adult professionals.

For new teachers, this can understandably feel a little daunting. But if you’ve completed your TEFL course, you know your stuff. It’s simply a case of demonstrating that to the interviewers. We’ve got some great tips for putting together a demo lesson, which guide you through how to approach it and what to expect.

Your introduction video is another important and distinctive factor. In fact, it might be the single biggest hiring component on most online teaching platforms. Intro videos show students (and prospective platforms) your personality, teaching style, and go over any prior experience. As they say, first impressions are everything!

Focus your job search

We all know how time-consuming and demoralising applying for jobs can be. To make the process as pain-free as possible, it’s a good idea at the start to establish which companies you meet the requirements for, so you don’t waste any time.

The table above highlights a number of online teaching companies that don’t require you to have any previous experience. But it’s important to be aware that companies can have other requirements.

Some may require you to be a native English speaker (or have a passport from an English-speaking country), and others may ask for a degree. Those who don’t speak English as their first language can check out our advice for how to teach English online as a non-native English speaker.

Once you’ve put together a list of companies you can apply to work for, it’s time to fire off those applications. Many online teachers work for a few companies to get more hours, so we recommend applying to several at a time.

Even if you’re only looking to make a bit of additional income from a few hours of teaching, it’s a good idea to try working for different companies to see which is the best fit for you.

Manage your expectations

It’s important to understand that when you start teaching English online, you won’t immediately have a full schedule, and you probably won’t be at your ideal hourly rate. This is particularly true if you’re new to teaching English as a foreign language.

When you’re starting out as a teacher who has no previous experience, you want to focus on building your teaching experience. The more experience you gain, the more hours you’ll be able to work and the more you’ll potentially be able to earn. Like any new career, you start from the bottom and work your way up! It’s important not to compare yourself to other teachers.

Get started teaching English with no experience

Now that you’re equipped with the most up-to-date information on landing a job teaching English with no experience, you should feel empowered to begin your career.

Whether you just graduated from your TEFL course or you’re about to get started, learn more about becoming an online English teacher by downloading our FREE Guide to Teaching English Online.