8 Reasons Specializing in Business English Can Boost Your ELT Career

Business English is one of the fastest-growing teaching specializations in TEFL. Whether you teach online or in person, teaching Business English can be fun and lucrative and can boost your ELT career. Here are eight reasons that a Business English specialization can take your teaching career to the next level. From more job opportunities to higher pay and greater job satisfaction, this niche may be exactly what you need to grow your teaching career.

If you’re new to teaching, you’ll want to get initial training and qualifications with a TEFL certificate. You can explore our online TEFL courses to get started.

1. Business English teachers are in high demand

Did you know that more than a billion people worldwide speak English? The demand for English-speaking professionals has skyrocketed over the last decade as English is the lingua franca of today’s business world.

ESL teachers know that while the teaching industry has grown substantially, so has the competition for teaching jobs. Teachers who want to continue growing their careers and increasing their earning potential need to focus on two things: finding a specialization and finding ways to stand out from the crowd.

Teaching Business English online or in person is a great way to fit into a teaching niche. By leveraging the growing demand for English-speaking professionals, you’ll be able to explore the many sub-niches and opportunities that can be found in teaching adults.

2. Business English teachers earn more on average compared to non-specialized instructors

While many factors come into determining salary ranges for ESL teachers, on average those who teach Business English earn more per student. Factors that contribute to the salary for Business English teachers include certifications, experience, and teaching locale. Evaluating TEFL salaries and earning potential can be a hefty topic to research, but if you’re considering a specialization, know that Business English has the most consistent potential for increased earnings.

Online Business English teachers have more scheduling flexibility and a larger client base on average but earn less than their in-person counterparts. Many Business English teachers opt for a combination of in-person and online classes. This helps develop organic relationships with employers while providing an opportunity to work with long-distance students.

3. There are opportunities to leverage professional experience

Do you have a background in giving presentations? Perhaps you speak multiple languages or have mastered industry jargon related to a highly specific professional field. Business English is an exceptionally broad niche compared to other TEFL specializations. Your unique skills and experiences can be crafted into a highly specialized teaching role, with a pay rate to match.

Here are some specialties that ESL teachers can provide for employers or individual students:

Interview skills
Multicultural communication
Technical jargon
Customer service
Accents and dialects
Conflict resolution

Each of these subjects offers professionally tailored life skills that employers value and students will need to succeed. Incorporating these course offerings into your Business English classes will boost student success and help build your unique brand teaching Business English.

4. Long-term relationships with corporate clients promote career growth

One of the many opportunities found in teaching Business English online or in person is the option to work directly with companies and organizations. HR teams frequently search for instructors to teach classes to non-English-speaking employees. These courses can range from customer service initiatives to leadership training.

Companies may hire Business English teachers to provide instruction on-site, or they may partner with an online corporate language training company like Bridge Corporate Language Learning. Bridge partners with companies to provide online English language training through a global team of Business English teachers. Bridge combines live instruction with the latest tools in EdTech to hyper-personalize Business English teaching for fast, effective learning.

Any seasoned TEFL educator, whether they teach Business English or not, knows that the key to a successful long-term career is building good relationships. For teachers specializing in Business English, this can mean connecting with students as a tutor, maintaining contact with HR teams, and offering courses on a variety of online platforms for maximum reach.

5. Teachers can find job satisfaction in helping adult students meet their goals

One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching Business English is helping adult language learners meet their goals. Business English students are typically ambitious professionals – they want to earn a higher salary, qualify for promotions, or be able to work in another country.

These students have big dreams and often many responsibilities outside of the classroom. ESL educators who teach Business English will connect with an incredibly diverse group of students who take their learning path seriously. These students will be looking for a teacher who can fast-track learning so they can meet their professional goals.

It’s important to approach teaching Business English knowing what your professional goals are. After all, your teaching abilities will impact the personal and professional lives of your students. Some things to consider are:

How much time do you want to dedicate to this niche?
What environment will best suit your teaching approach?
What are your schedule limitations; will you work days, nights, or weekends?

Answering these questions before setting up a course offering will help ensure that you connect with students who will best benefit from your unique method of instruction. The relationship between adult ESL learners and TEFL teachers is a mutually beneficial one. As you help these motivated learners boost their careers, you boost your ESL career too.

6. Teachers enjoy flexibility and creativity in designing custom courses for particular industries and job duties

Teaching Business English to adults has numerous career benefits as well as job satisfaction benefits. But did you know that this teaching niche can also improve your work-life balance?

One of the biggest perks to teaching Business English as a teaching specialization is that there is the opportunity for incredible flexibility in your teaching schedule. By offering custom courses, you’ll set your own schedule – and often be able to choose who you teach. If you prefer small groups or one-on-one tutoring, then mock interviews and resume writing courses are for you. Work with students across time zones, after work hours, or in the evenings after your day is done.

You can also increase your income by teaching English online to groups. Group classes also provide value to your students as you can encourage dynamic relationship-building among your students and develop their teamwork and social skills. Set up students with a customer interaction scenario, guided scripts, or miscommunication examples and watch them navigate through conversations. Group classes make for great weekend schedules as most working professionals will have less free time during the week.

Providing classes for companies will generally involve a contract and a pre-determined number of hours or classes that will be held. Teach your classes in clusters, and then enjoy time off to travel as a digital nomad, earn extra income with an ESL tutoring side gig, or continue upskilling through professional development.

7. Business English instructors stay relevant in the teaching industry

Job security is a major concern for all English teachers. Each niche and classroom type comes with a certain level of risk; some work is seasonal, and sometimes there’s a lull in finding ESL students. Retaining students is also a challenge online teachers face. By staying relevant with current industry needs, teachers who specialize in a popular niche will enjoy greater job security.

What does it mean to stay relevant?

Simply put, staying relevant requires a Business English teacher to know what industries are growing in their English-speaking markets. Oftentimes, these industries are regionally based. Online English teachers will see a rise in students seeking instruction from specific areas, like the Philippines. Highly specialized English teachers may see more companies posting job openings for training and onboarding non-native English speakers.

The best way to stay informed of Business English needs is to conduct research and to maintain professional relationships. Staying connected with students is a great way to keep tabs on changes within a certain field. Scanning job boards and attending hiring events will give a bird’s eye view of industry trends as well.

Teaching Business English allows ESL teachers to be able to pivot to a new subject with ease and explore new areas of interest within teaching. Business English is a powerful specialization that can boost any teacher’s career with the right planning and preparation.

Learn more about teaching with Bridge Corporate Language Learning.

8. Business English teachers have access to unique continuous professional development opportunities

Perhaps the greatest way that teaching Business English will boost your ELT career is the nearly endless opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Each year, more businesses, ventures, and industries expand to include English-speaking markets. And more professionals will need to learn how to communicate with the growing customer base. For TEFL teachers, this presents unique opportunities for professional development, ranging from learning dialects to teaching English using video to materials development for the EFL classroom.

If you’re looking to specialize in teaching Business English, there are a few things you’ll need to get started:

In addition to general TEFL/TESOL training, most companies will also require a certification in teaching Business English. This certification demonstrates the skills necessary to navigate the often complex dynamics of a multicultural workplace and the individual needs of adult students.
If you want to teach Business English online via a marketplace, in addition to specialized certification, you’ll also need a well-crafted teacher profile.
If you’re ready to launch your career as a fully independent Teacherpreneur, the Teacherpreneur Academy will set you up for success. Running your own online teaching business requires a specific skill set. Make sure you’re equipped with the tools and knowledge to stand out in the digital marketplace.

By choosing to specialize in Business English, you will open the door to an incredible sector of the teaching world. Connect with ambitious learners, grow dynamic relationships with professional teams, forge a unique path with tailored course offerings, and watch your career bloom.

Take a look at this step-by-step guide for landing a job teaching Business English from anywhere in the world.