Agency Defends $240,000 Baby Tutor Job: ‘It’s Never Too Early’

When Adam Caller, the owner of Tutors International, posted a job posting for a tutor for a one-year-old last week, he didn’t expect it to go viral. The position pays £180,000, or $240,000, but he had previously advertised much higher-paying positions.

“What got the attention of the press was not the amount of money, but the fact that it was a one-year-old child,” he told Business Insider.

The advert, published in the Times Educational Supplement on October 17, was placed on behalf of a wealthy international family based in London. The family is looking for an experienced tutor to prepare their baby for elite schools like Eton or Harrow – and to help him become the perfect ‘English gentleman’.

According to the listing, the family is looking for someone who can begin to “immerse the child in British culture, values ​​and intricacies before cultural bias takes hold.”

It says a child’s education should include learning traditional sports like tennis, polo and rowing, listening to classical music and visiting art galleries and theaters.

The family provided their eldest child with a private tutor from the age of five, the listing says, which the parents felt was “too late to achieve their goal, hence their search for a tutor now.”

“People don’t like the idea that money buys privilege.”

The list was widely covered by the British media, but Caller said the fiercest criticism came from anonymous commenters on parenting forum Mumsnet. In these forums, commenters expressed disbelief, primarily regarding the ages of prospective students.

But Caller’s point of view is simple: “It’s never too early.”

Caller said he’s used to criticism after spending more than two decades in the high-end tutoring industry. He founded Tutors International in 1999, based in Oxford, and now fills around 15 to 20 tutoring positions a year for high net worth clients around the world.

“I understand that people don’t like the idea that money buys privilege,” he said.

He added: “I know what we’re proposing is not just an elitist thing, it’s the elitist end of the elitist thing.”

Very wealthy parents, he says, are often keen to give their children the “subtle advantages” that will prepare them for a life of hunting trips, lavish balls and mixing in the upper echelons of British society.

Even though in the first few months, “the child will be mostly asleep and lying on his back, gargling and babbling,” Caller said, the child will still learn by example from an appropriate role model.

“Between one and two years old, he’ll become verbal,” he said. And when he does, they want him to look like – and have the manners of – a British gentleman.

Caller said many of his foreign clients consider a Received Pronunciation accent, such as that of King Charles III, to sound more educated and worldly. “He just has more authority in business and so on,” he said.

The ideal candidate

The listing seems to have done the trick. Caller said it had attracted an “exceptional area of ​​application”.

At the time of reporting, the position had received 141 applications, according to screenshots of the caller’s application page sent to Business Insider. Caller said he plans to ask for references from about 10 percent of them, with a handful standing out as exceptional candidates.

As for the ideal candidate?

They are well educated, cultured and express themselves clearly. They attended elite British schools and universities and were raised in what the job ad describes as a “socially appropriate environment”.

They are also “fit, healthy and non-smokers – active and energetic with a love for the outdoors,” the listing states.

As for the six-figure salary – almost five times the UK average salary of around £38,000 – Caller said it was modest by Tutors International standards. A recent position offered almost £250,000, he said.

For his billionaire and millionaire clients, he believes the cost is negligible: “It’s nothing compared to what you spent to refuel your yacht. It’s nothing compared to the problems of replacing your plane or managing homes in five different countries.”

He continued: “Children are more important to a family than yachts, houses, planes and cars, etc.”

The caller said he would have liked to tone down the wording in the ad — it was a “bit of a stretch,” he said — but customers were adamant about the wording.

But their desire to set their baby up for success early – and make him a gentleman – is far from unique in the world of ultra-wealthy parents.

“This is a common request,” Caller said, “and it’s global.”