Managing Your Availability

Set your availability to let students know when you're free for tutoring sessions.

Last updated this week

Setting your availability correctly is crucial for attracting students and making scheduling easy. Here's how to manage when you're available for tutoring sessions.

Types of Availability

Sentuent supports two types of availability:

Recurring Availability

Set regular weekly hours when you're typically available.

Example recurring schedule:

  • Mondays: 3 PM - 8 PM
  • Wednesdays: 3 PM - 8 PM
  • Saturdays: 10 AM - 4 PM

Best for: Tutors with consistent schedules

One-Time Availability

Add specific time slots that don't repeat.

Example one-time slots:

  • Friday, Jan 15: 2 PM - 5 PM (winter break)
  • Tuesday, March 3: 10 AM - 12 PM (morning free)

Best for: Filling gaps in your schedule or handling irregular availability

Adding Recurring Availability

1

Open Calendar Settings

Navigate to your Calendar and click "Manage Availability"

2

Select Add Recurring Hours

Choose this option to set up weekly patterns

3

Choose Days & Times

  • Select which days of the week
  • Set start and end times
  • Set the same hours for multiple days at once
4

Save Your Schedule

Click "Save" to apply your recurring availability

Be realistic: Only add times when you can consistently commit. It's better to start conservative and add more later.

Adding One-Time Availability

For specific dates:

  1. Click on the date in your calendar
  2. Select "Add Availability Block"
  3. Set the start and end times
  4. Click "Save"

Blocking Time

Need to block off time when you're usually available?

1

Navigate to the Date

Find the date on your calendar

2

Click Block Time

This creates a "Busy" block

3

Add a Reason

Mark as vacation, personal, or other (optional)

4

Save

The time is now unavailable for booking

Existing sessions: Blocking time won't cancel existing sessions. You'll need to reschedule those separately if there's a conflict.

Availability Best Practices

Offer Variety

Students have different schedules. Try to offer:

  • Morning slots for early risers
  • Evening slots for after school/work
  • Weekend options for busy students

Consider Time Zones

If you tutor students in different time zones:

  1. Check what times work in their timezone
  2. Label your availability clearly (e.g., "10 AM Pacific")
  3. Consider expanding hours to cover multiple zones

Multi-timezone example: If you're in PST and tutor students in EST, offering 6 PM - 9 PM PST gives EST students 9 PM - 12 AM options.

Buffer Between Sessions

Don't schedule sessions back-to-back:

  • Add 10-15 minutes between sessions
  • Time to review notes and prepare
  • Prevents running late if a session goes over

Update Regularly

Weekly review: Check your availability every Sunday for the upcoming week

Seasonal changes: Update when school schedules change, during holidays, etc.

Life happens: Don't forget to block time for appointments, travel, etc.

Viewing Your Availability

See your current availability:

  1. Calendar > Availability View
  2. Toggle between "Week" and "Month" views
  3. Green blocks = available, Red = busy, Blue = booked sessions

Editing Existing Availability

To modify recurring availability:

  1. Calendar > Manage Availability
  2. Find the recurring pattern
  3. Click "Edit" or "Delete"
  4. Make your changes
  5. Choose whether to apply to future sessions only or all

Careful with edits: Changing recurring availability affects future bookings. Students who already booked at those times keep their sessions.

Availability Templates

Save time with templates for common schedules:

Academic Year Template:

  • Mon-Fri: 4 PM - 9 PM
  • Sat-Sun: 10 AM - 6 PM

Summer Template:

  • Mon-Fri: 9 AM - 5 PM
  • Weekends: Off

Part-Time Template:

  • Evenings only: 6 PM - 10 PM
  • Weekends: Flexible

Access templates: Calendar > Templates > Apply Template

Automatic Availability (Beta)

Let Sentuent manage availability automatically based on your Google Calendar:

How it works:

  1. Sync your Google Calendar
  2. Enable "Auto-availability" in settings
  3. Sentuent automatically creates availability blocks when you're free
  4. Minimum 1-hour blocks

Requirements:

  • Google Calendar sync enabled
  • Two-way sync turned on
  • At least 3 weeks of calendar history

Beta feature: Auto-availability is in beta. Review the suggested blocks weekly to ensure accuracy.

Student View

When students view your availability, they see:

  • All your available time slots
  • Converted to their timezone
  • Filtered by their preferences (if set)

They won't see:

  • Why you're unavailable
  • Your personal calendar events
  • Other students' booked sessions

Maximizing Bookings

Want more bookings? Try these tips:

  1. Be available during peak hours (after school, early evenings)
  2. Offer weekend slots for busy professionals
  3. Stay consistent with your schedule
  4. Update quickly when your schedule changes
  5. Enable instant booking (students can book without approval)

Need Help?

Having trouble with availability settings? Contact support@sentuent.com with:

  • Screenshots of your current settings
  • Description of what you're trying to accomplish
  • Your timezone