Funeral Director
Funeral Director
Career Overview
Funeral directors help families plan and organize funerals, memorial services, burials, and cremations. They coordinate arrangements, paperwork, transportation, and other details, while providing calm, compassionate support during a difficult time. Technology, digital records, online planning, and virtual memorial services are also becoming part of modern funeral services.
Education
A college program in Funeral Services or Funeral Service Education is typically required, followed by supervised practical training and licensing requirements. In Canada, funeral directors usually complete a one- to two-year college program and a 12- to 20-month practical apprenticeship. Licensing requirements vary by location.
Work Environment
Funeral directors work in funeral homes, crematories, cemeteries, and sometimes other locations where services are held. They work closely with families, coordinate many details under tight timelines, and may work evenings, weekends, holidays, or be on call.
Future Outlook
People will always need professionals who can guide families through end-of-life arrangements. Opportunities can grow for funeral directors who combine strong people skills with organization, technology, event planning, and modern approaches to memorial services.
Recommended High School Courses
- Psychology
- Math
- Business
- Communication
- Social studies
- English
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Time Sharing - The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Advise customers on technical or procedural issues.
- Supervise employees.
- Schedule activities or facility use.
- Promote products, services, or programs.
- Monitor organizational compliance with regulations.
- Negotiate sales or lease agreements for products or services.
- Resolve customer complaints or problems.
- Implement organizational process or policy changes.
- Develop operating strategies, plans, or procedures.
- Direct facility maintenance or repair activities.
- Prepare staff schedules or work assignments.
- Develop organizational goals or objectives.
- Communicate organizational policies and procedures.
- Maintain operational records.
- Prepare reports related to compliance matters.
- Determine pricing or monetary policies.
- Monitor performance of organizational members or partners.
- Hire personnel.
- Interview employees, customers, or others to collect information.
- Analyze data to inform operational decisions or activities.
- Analyze financial records to improve efficiency.
- Establish interpersonal business relationships to facilitate work activities.
- Develop marketing plans or strategies.
- Analyze market research data.
Schools
American River College
Cypress College
Des Moines Area Community...
Florida State College At...
Gannon University- Erie C...
Ivy Tech Community Colleg...
Jefferson State Community...
Lake Washington Institute...
Miami Dade College- Wolfs...
Point Park University
San Antonio College
Southern Illinois Univers...
Suny At Canton
Suny Hudson Valley Commun...
Suny Nassau Community Col...
Tidewater Community Colle...
Vincennes University- Vin...
Wayne State University
Canadian College Of Fu...
Collège Boréal
Keyin College
Mount Royal University...
Stratford Career Insti...
Approx Salary Expectation
Low End:
$47,000.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$66,000.00 /yr
High End:
$95,000.00 /yr
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.