Funeral Arranger Review

I am based alone in a satellite branch. I fulfil the My Safety criteria and complete the daily online assessment of my branch safety. I sell funeral plans and arrange funerals. I liaise with my central hub. I keep the branch clean and tidy as we have no cleaner. I am expected to arrange coffee mornings and come up with ways to engage the community with Co-op and ensure brand awareness.

I am still learning the core skills to become effective in my role. I have the people skills, but am new to the business and with the constant changes to ways of working which seem to be almost weekly, and the lack of real support in branch I am finding it difficult.

The whole thing is new. I have not met my programme supervisor as yet so am unsure how the whole programme will roll out and what it's true benefit will be. It has already been made clear there is no computer skills component to this programme, an area in which I feel I would derive a great deal of benefit since an arranger's role involves a huge amount of computer work.

To be fair I have no clue! As I have already stated after the initial induction, which frankly was uninspiring [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], I have had no meeting with my course supervisor so cannot comment.

Remains to be seen. I get very little actual support here. Everyone is very nice when you speak to them on the phone, but I have had none of the structure support, training and guidance that was promised. I have basically been dropped in a branch and left to muddle my way through. I can honestly say I have never worked for an organisation with such a poor training structure.

I suspect I will have to fight to get the necessary experience to fulfil the course criteria. I have no job share and am lone working, so if I am busy I will be expected to do the course work in my own time. I am not prepared to do that. As I have yet to meet my course supervisor (appointment next week) I am unsure how much effective support she will be able to give. I strongly suspect it will amount to a bag full of empty platitudes and empathy but little real effective help.

I honestly think you've sent this questionnaire far too soon for me to give an informed opinion. I suspect it wont add a deal since the aspect where I have stated I would like additional support aren't covered. I will however reserve judgement until I see exactly how it pans out.

We are expected to get involved with our communities, but as far as social activities etc I didn't even get an invite to the Xmas meal that took place at my hub. To be honest I have a busy and active life outside of work and am heavily involved in two sports, dressage and cycling so don't need additional demands from work.

No

Big on rhetoric. Short on actions. Unrealistic in their expectations. I was told I would get 12 weeks formal training in a busy branch. Because of area politics and how the branches are divided I had a couple of days at one branch over an hour away from mine, then a couple of hours at my hub where I was asked "What do you need to know?" When you are new you don't know what you need to know!! As my branch had been closed for a month I was then expected to just be there and read up on the "how to" on the intranet. Not my learning style. Add to that the intranet is a mess and not easy to navigate. I spend a lot of my time faking it to make it then ringing round trying to make sure I do things right. It's not what I expected. I was told by the previous incumbent of the role that she had had this experience which was why she quit. I was assured on the initial training that things would be different for me. They are not.

If you're applying for a role as a funeral arranger don't expect any real training or support if you are being placed in a satellite branch. You need to have strong enough character to figure it out for yourself and be determined to succeed if you like the role and believe in delivering good service to the client.