How To Be A Funeral Director

Funeral Directors arrange and direct funeral services, such as coordinating transportation of the body to the mortuary for embalming, interviewing family or other authorized person to arrange details, selecting pallbearers, procuring officials for religious rites, providing transportation for mourners and helping families deal with grief in the loss of their loved ones. Funeral Directors must be organized, people oriented, and good with details.

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Become A Funeral Director.

The essential duties of funeral directors extend beyond organizing and orchestrating an event. Funeral directors see their primary role as that of a caregiver. They provide both general and specific support in many ways. "We're caring for the deceased, but we're also caring for the family," says Kurz. "It offers a whole new set of services, which is really wonderful." Kurz and other funeral directors help families with important details, such as filing the death certificate or finding ways to pay for bereavement services. They might even perform the funeral service. When necessary, these workers make referrals to other professionals, including accountants, counselors, and social workers.

"If people need to go to probate court, you go with them," says Molloy. "If they need you to help call the bank or real estate agent, you do it." And some funeral directors follow up with family members after the funeral to see how they're dealing with their grief. Because they are familiar with the mourning process, these workers can provide reassurance to clients along with comfort. Sometimes," Molloy says, "all they need is to be told that what they're going through is normal."

Although working with the family is important, handling the body of the deceased is also the funeral director's job. Some families opt for embalming, which involves cleaning and temporarily preserving the corpse. Many funeral directors manage this part of their jobs by concentrating on the service they are providing. "It can be unpleasant, but not necessarily," says Molloy. "Knowing that you're helping a family can help you get through it." Others enjoy, and even choose to focus on, the technical aspects of embalming. Laura Soll of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association describes a large part of the work's appeal: "It's like giving the person a tribute." Embalming isn't required of all funeral directors, but most need to learn how to do it.

Dealing so closely with the deceased and the deceased's loved ones often gives funeral directors a sense of kinship with their clients. "You become almost a part of the family somehow," says Kurz. "Working with the families and providing guidance and support is what we're about."

People often have preconceived ideas about jobs involved with funerals.

~ Misconception: Work in funeral services is all about death and grieving.

~ Fact: Funerals involve death and grieving, but they're about much more than that. "There's the stereotype that it's all sad and black," says Colleen Murphy Klein of the National Funeral Directors Association. "But it's really about working with families." Funeral director Randy Molloy agrees. "It's not a sad profession," he says. "A funeral can be about a person who's died, but our job is for the living."

Molloy enjoys what he does, in part because it's a chance to see the good side of people and to support them through a difficult time.

~ Misconception: Funeral directors are morbid.

~ Fact: Most funeral directors are outgoing and people-oriented, not somber and obsessed with death. They strive to make people feel comfortable with an uncomfortable topic, but typically, they aren't drawn to the macabre any more than the average person. In fact, their ordinariness is often an occupational advertisement.

"When people deal with a funeral director and find out that it's a normal person doing a job," says Molloy, "they become interested in the career." What calls many funeral directors to their occupation is the ability to work closely with others. According to Michael Smith of the American Board of Funeral Service Education, "It's not the gory kinds of things people think of that most funeral directors like about their jobs."

Article source: Elka Maria Torpey, Occupational Outlook Quarterly - Winter 2006-07

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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Funeral Directors had median annual earnings of $50,370 in May 2007. The highest earning 10 percent made more than $92,610, and the lowest 10 percent made less than $28,890. These data are for wage-and-salary workers only and do not include the self-employed.

Most funeral directors also are trained, licensed,and practicing embalmers. Embalming is a sanitary, cosmetic, and preservative process through which the body is prepared for interment. If more than 24 hours elapse between death and interment, State laws usually require that the remains be refrigerated or embalmed.

When embalming a body, funeral directors wash the body with germicidal soap and replace the blood with embalming fluid to preserve the tissues. They may reshape and reconstruct bodies using materials such as clay, cotton, plaster of Paris, and wax. They also may apply cosmetics to provide a natural appearance, dress the body, and place it in a casket. Funeral directors maintain records such as embalming reports and itemized lists of clothing or valuables delivered with the body. In large funeral homes, an embalming staff of two or more, plus several apprentices may be employed.

How to buy an existing home or start a new one. Finding locations, setting up, required equipment, a business plan, budgeting as well as staffing are all covered in our comprehensive guidebook Become A Funeral Director.

- The History of funerals
- A quiz to help you determine whether you are right for this career
- What you need to know about the National Board Exams
- All about professional organizations
- Continuing education
- And much more!

The information in this guide can save you many hours of research, help you avoid some common mistakes, and give you advice you need to get a job as a funeral director. 

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