Funeral Arranger Review

I work as a funeral arranger for coop funeralcare. I joined the company in May 2017 and began my apprenticeship working towards my NVQ in funeralcare. My role is mostly based on contact with bereaved families and it is my responsibility to arrange the funerals and ensure we provide the best possible service to both the families and the deceased. I spend a lot of time with the families providing as much help and support as possible. I am also the front of house meaning that the majority of calls are answered by myself, this can be anything from general enquires, families asking questions, doctors, crematorium's celebrant/ministers etc. No two days are the same. We also work hard to work with the community, at the moment we are working to start a bereavement group which I have been heavily involved in.

I am currently working towards my NVQ so I am constantly learning. Since joining Coop I have learned a lot more about what is involved in funeralcare, there's a lot more in it that 1st meets the eye. I have attended a hand full of internal courses for example, training on the revised Pre paid funeral plans which were recently updated again and I have also attended training courses at Mayfields to help start my career in this industry. I have always been a people person but my communications skills have improved and I have learnt more about how to handle situations, for example all grieving families are different, some are crying, some are in denial others are angry and want someone to take their frustrations out on. I love the role I have and will always be working hard to improve and develop new skills with the help of Coop.

The training has been really good, it's been nice to meet people from different branches and regions and learn how they do things as each branch has their own way of working. The teams I have worked with have always been welcoming and more than willing to help and work together as a team. I was very nervous to begin with but was soon made to feel as ease and was able to relax and enjoy the learning experience.

A simple thank you from a manager is all it takes to feel appreciated, more often than not you do receive thanks which is nice to get as it shows that your manager is taking an interest and notices the work and effort that you put in. It's always great to receive feedback externally as well, its lovely to see that clients have gone out of their way to write to you or send a thank you card, this just showed that we've done our job and left the clients 100% satisfied with the service we have provided.

As I have never done an apprenticeship before I cannot compare it to anything but I do feel that it has gone well. My introduction and training originally started over in Mayfield, the consultant there, [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions], was brilliant, he was able to make learning fun and kept us all listening and interested in the work. Doing my NVQ during working hours became a bit of a struggle through November and December due to the heavy work load which we all had but I've been able to set aside some time now and have caught up on the work I was behind on.

[This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] from Mayfields was great, he always wanted to help even if it was something in his remit he would go out of his way to find the answer to help us. He would help to guide us in the right direction if we struggled to find answers. You can tell by the way he works that he thoroughly enjoys his job and wants to help and support us as much as possible.

Due to the recent changes I think everybody has struggled to receive the support they have expected but hopefully now that things are beginning to settle down again the support system will be back in place to help us where required. It has been difficult over the last couple of months to know who to turn to as things have been up in the air with the structural changes that have been taking place. Managers have had to learn new roles so they have been under pressure to concentrate on that. That being said, the management team I work under do know my ambitious is to become a funeral director and they have all said they will guide me. My manager, Vanessa Calverley is looking to put some sort of structure in place for me so that it will help me in pursuing my dream job.

To be honest the salary for a funeral arranger is not the best and certainly is not ideal. I took a large pay cut to join Coop as this was my dream job but it has meant a putting a strain on our finances. It can be more difficult when having to use our own vehicles and fuel to travel between branches.

Since joining Coop I have started to volunteer with Silverline, who are a company I found through Coop. I volunteer my time each week to speak on the spoke with a person who is feeling lonely. I would never have thought about volunteering for something like this before joining Coop. I also like to get involved in Coop activities such as holding coffee morning, memorial services etc and we are currently working towards setting up a bereavement group within our branch.

Yes

Coop is a great company to work for, the team I work with are fantastic and coming to work is not a cure, I come to work and enjoy my job.

Keep looking online for current positions as they are always changing. take your time and be honest in your answers. Be yourself, I personally applied for a different position to the one I am in now and that was because when I had my interview the interviewer saw me more as a people person and wanted me to be interacting with the families rather than working be hide the doors. The answers need to be detailed in the interview and always refer to past experiences as examples.