Opportunities

Be a Tutor: Work on Presenting and Writing with International Graduate Students

Duration: fall semester 2025 and beyond

Time Commitment: flexible, but usually 5-8 hours a week

Compensation: starting $18 an hour

Submission deadline: Monday, Sept. 15

Cornell’s English Language Support Office (ELSO) offers one-on-one tutoring for international graduate students and postdocs from all fields. Our tutors work on any presentation, including those for classes, conferences, and defenses. We also work on any writing project, from class assignments to dissertations, and on all levels, from overall structure to the sentence-level.

Tutors gain teaching experience working with students from other cultures and the opportunity to improve their own writing and communication skills. The pay starts at $18 an hour, and schedules are flexible. We provide initial training and ongoing training at our weekly meetings. All training is paid. For more information, visit:  https://elso.as.cornell.edu/elso-tutoring

We only hire matriculated Cornell graduate students.

Though we provide training, new tutors must already have some qualifications, so usually, we hire applicants with at least two of the Qualifications Strongly Preferred (listed below). However, we make exceptions, particularly for those from under-represented fields (e.g., Law, Business, and Engineering and other STEM fields). Graduate students from all fields are encouraged to apply.

Minimum Required Qualifications

• be a current Cornell graduate or professional student
• have strong interpersonal communication skills
• have experience and an interest in academic presenting and writing
• have a willingness to learn more about presenting, writing, language, and culture
• have an interest in engaging with people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines

Qualifications Preferred

• have experience giving public presentations
• received training for giving presentations
• received training in teaching writing and/or tutoring (e.g., completed Cornell’s Knight Institute writing program)
• taught writing and/or speaking courses (e.g., first-year writing)
• have knowledge of using generative artificial intelligence for presenting and writing
• have experience using an additional language or additional languages
• traveled or lived abroad
• worked in English-as-an-additional-language contexts

Qualifications Strongly Preferred

• have experience providing feedback to presenting and/or writing, particularly to graduate students
• have tutoring and/or teaching experience
• completed one or more years of graduate school
• have experience presenting in various contexts (e.g., at conferences, for program-wide events) and writing in various genres (e.g. grants, applications, research papers)
• have experience in Communication Studies (e.g., taken classes on academic presentations, competed in presentation contests) and/or Writing Studies or related fields (e.g. Rhetoric, Genre Studies)

ELSO tutors will be responsible for:

• participating in paid, weekly tutor staff meetings that include training—some meetings will be face-to-face on Cornell campus
• creating and maintaining a schedule to meet with clients synchronously online, to respond to writing asynchronously through email, and, possibly, to meet face-to-face with clients
• providing feedback on presentations and writing projects
• keeping tutoring records of appointments

To apply, please submit both a cover letter and resume via Workday.

Tutor GenAI Writing with International Graduate Students  

Duration: fall semester 2025 and beyond

Time Commitment: flexible, but usually 5-8 hours a week

Compensation: starting $18 an hour

Submission deadline: Monday, Sept. 15

Cornell’s English Language Support Office (ELSO) offers one-on-one tutoring for international graduate students and postdocs from all fields. This fall, we are starting a new service called Writing with GenAI. We are seeking tutors who will help in its creation and development.

Tutors gain teaching experience working with students from other cultures as they explore this new field. The pay starts at $18 an hour, and schedules are flexible. We provide initial training and ongoing training at our weekly meetings. All training is paid. For more information, visit:  https://elso.as.cornell.edu/elso-tutoring

We only hire matriculated Cornell graduate students.

We are looking for applicants who meet all of the Minimum Required Qualifications, most of the Qualifications Preferred, and at least one of the Qualifications Strongly Preferred

Minimum Required Qualifications

• be a current Cornell graduate or professional student
• have strong interpersonal communication skills
• have an interest in engaging with people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines
• have a strong desire to work with and develop techniques and approaches for writing with GenAI

Qualifications Preferred

• have knowledge using GenAI for writing
• have experience using an additional language or additional languages
• traveled or lived abroad
• worked in English-as-an-additional-language contexts
• completed one or more years of graduate school

Qualifications Strongly Preferred

• received training in teaching writing and/or tutoring (e.g., completed Cornell’s Knight Institute writing program)
• have tutoring and/or teaching experience
• have experience providing feedback on writing, particularly to graduate students
• taught writing courses (e.g., first-year writing)

ELSO tutors will be responsible for:

• participating in paid, weekly tutor staff meetings that include training—some meetings will be face-to-face on Cornell campus
• creating and maintaining a schedule to meet with clients synchronously online, to respond to writing asynchronously through email, and, possibly, to meet face-to-face with clients
• providing feedback on presentations and writing projects
• keeping tutoring records of appointments

To apply, please submit both a cover letter and resume via Workday.

In collaboration with the Language Resource Center, the English Language Support Office offers English Conversation Hours -- weekly drop-in sessions for Cornell community members to practice speaking social English. We are always seeking volunteers! Read more about the program here. See the Conversation Hour schedule here. Complete a facilitator form here.