Funeral Arranger Review

My role involves arranging funerals, memorials, funeral plans and caring for the deceased and their families. I meet with families of recently deceased to support them through the arrangement process and undertake all the tasks involved like booking services and celebrants. I help families to select and buy memorial stones and caskets. I support people through the process of buying a funeral plan. I manage the branch accounts, clean the branch, undertake a variety of admin duties and telephone calls.

Most of the skills I use I have developed in this role as it is my first job as funeral arranger. During my workplace induction I learned the basics of the role and I worked with a colleague/mentor to develop and use these skills: using the database to input and check funeral information; using the database for financial aspects (costs, receipts, expenses and pricing); Shadowing; the arrangements of funeral and services we can provide; pre paid funeral plans; arranging masonry and memorial goods. Online training has given me knowledge about company policies and health and safety, data protection. I already had interpersonal skills for sensitive conmmunication but these are developing

I am enjoying my programme as I enjoy learning and developing skills. The many aspects of the programme make it interesting and varied. I am supported at work with my training. There is a good team culture which is helpful and this promotes confidence. I feel the programme will help with new learning as well as reinforce knowledge and practice.

It appears to very well structured. The induction was very thorough and made it easy to understand in a step by step way. I was provided with good resources initially which explained everything and within two days of my induction I received more resources and workbooks with clear explanations of next steps and what was required. The coach who delivered the induction made it very easy to follow.

So far my line manager has been quite supportive. My colleague is very supportive and helps me facilitate time to complete and study during the working day where possible and necessary. My manager was very helpful in supporting the induction session and our learning and development department have been supportive and clear in answering questions and communicating with me

There is a lot of support from my training provider including good resources which are easy to follow, relevant, useful and clear and enables me to complete the work. Support via emails which are helpful and clear and providing useful information. I am enjoying the programme and I feel supported.

It is helping me look at my own skills and practice and reflect on how and if I can develop further. It is providing me with lots of underpinning knowledge which helps me improve my practice and understand how and why things are done in a certain way. It is helping me understand wider aspects of my role and the industry in general.

There are occasional company events and some social events organised by small groups of colleagues which are interesting and fun. There are many local community events organised by my workplace and support to become involved in and initiate local community events and local charities. I do get involved in some of these.

Yes

Coop is a very ethical company and employer. They are not run by a board who receive a percentage of the profits but by members (employees and the public) whose views higher management use to make decisions and help drive the company forward. They are striving to support the environment by seeking ways to be 'green' and they promote excellent customer focus.

The recruitment process is simple to go through but does involve a short assessment at pre interview stage. During shortlisting and at interview, they are very customer focussed and the employees they are seeking must have very good interpersonal skills and show good customer service skills; this seems to be above experience as they provide training.