Okay, looking for some job related advice

Alrighty guys. I'm just looking for some opinions on an offer I've just had.

A couple of months ago, I was referred to a language-learning group that helps match up tutors and students looking to learn various languages. I was recommended after someone from the company asked a friend, who couldn't do it herself so she recommended me.

I decided to take a chance and I've been tutoring a student for the past few weeks in my spare time. Overall, the tutoring experience has been good, my student is great, and I've been paid on time. Some of the interactions with the company have been weird/annoying, but since I've received my money on time, I'm assuming it's not too bad.

Which is basically long, drawn-out set-up for the current dilemma. I just received an email from someone wanting me to do similar work. I haven't heard of the company and they say they got my email address from a site I don't remember being a member of.

They want me to send a resume and a video of me singing a song in the target language, which seems kind of odd to me. I could understand a video of tutoring so they can see me interact, but a song? I don't really understand the logic.

On the one hand, I'm very interested in doing some more freelance tutoring because it brings in some extra money, and I can definitely use the extra money. At the same time, I've never heard of this company, the request sounds odd (I so don't have a video anyway, so I'd have to make one. I don't even know how to go about doing that without a video camera).

I know that for writing stuff it's always a red flag if someone approaches you and that we're always told not to go with publisher or agent that we know little about. I can look up some info on the company making the offer now (they claim some big clients), but not the sort I want to know about things like do they pay on time or what experience have others had working for them.

Is it best to just take a chance and see what happens? Or should I be cautious? Obviously I don't want to turn down an opportunity that just came knocking out of nowhere, but I don't want to end up screwed over, either.

That's a good idea. I worry about offending them by asking, but it's hard to find things about them online. They do have a fancy, professional website, and it's very similar to the other company I'm working for at the moment. I'd definitely feel better if I could speak to other tutors and see what their experiences are.

ETA: They did say it could be a homemade video and they're not looking for anything professional, just to see how we work. It's just the subject matter that seems odd to me. Maybe it's a way to see if my language skills are up to par?

They didn't give me a link to where they got my name, just told me a place, which is generic enough that I can't just search for it.

It's possible that the other company somehow has me on a list and that's where they heard it, which would make sense. I worry about this sort of thing in general because of the nature of the work. Basically the company is just a middle-man and the student pays them for the tutoring, and I get a certain portion of that. The thing is, I don't get to know how much the student is paying.

Right now I set my own price, but they also offer flat-rate courses. I don't necessarily mind a percentage going to the company for setting it up, handling payment, etc. but I do mind if they're getting a very high percentage compared to what I'm getting.

I was reluctant with the first company because there seems like so much potential to screw it up, but they seem pretty professional in spite of the weirdness (which might be partially the result of language barriers), and like I said, I've gotten paid.

On the one hand it seems like another fair opportunity worth considering, but like you guys said, it also feels potentially shady and there's so much room for exploitation that it's nerve-wracking to decide.

Obviously there is a need for services like this, particularly with unusual languages. I just wish there was a better way to find out about them.

I checked out the website and it looks legit. They also almost certainly got my email address from the other company because it occurs to me that this is my business account that I've only used for work-related stuff and sending queries.

My boyfriend thinks for language classes asking someone to sing a song isn't that unusual. He says they had to do that as part of a JET interview a few years back. I know I didn't as part of mine, but I'm wondering if it's not as strange as it seems.

Would it be uncouth to write back and ask what the purpose of the video is?

Ari Meermans said:

Kaitie, I don't think there's any need to blow it off. Check them out as much as possible and make what you consider a reasonable decision. Just proceed cautiously.

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What I did for the other company is agree to do one 24 hour course (twelve weeks). I figured that if there were any problems, I was only committed to the one so if I did regret it, I didn't lose too much in the way of time and effort.

It might be worth doing in this case as well. They haven't offered me a specific course yet, but want me to add me to their list of freelancers. If that's the case, I could probably just agree to take one course for a limited time and then not work for them again if there were problems.

I think the agent search has made me hyper-cautious about this sort of thing. I also am not sure whether what might be a red flag for an agent might be perfectly acceptable for another field.

I think it would make more sense to show me giving a lesson as well. Seems rather odd that they'd even ask for a video. That's the first I've heard of it, and the comment about them potentially planning to use it for marketing does concern me. I wonder if I did agree to send it if I could make a note saying that the video couldn't be released to the public or something like that?

Very strange. I'll let you know what they say when I ask about everything.

That's a good idea.