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Kylea
Student
Grantsville, Maryland
1
Question
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How do I go about getting internship at a funeral home?
I am finishing up my second semester of mortuary school, how do I begin reaching out to funeral homes? The school is in a large city while my home is in a small town so I am not such how to reach back to them while finishing school.
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Michelle M.
Actress
2522
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Michelle’s Answer
Hello, Kylea !
Some good news for you - forget about Internships, you will be a full fledged Funeral Director once you graduate and obtain your License as a Funeral Director.
After you obtain your License, start applying for employment, not internships. Make it a point to not leave Funeral Directing School with any questions left unanswered. Try to start now making very strong connections with your instructors, every funeral home and cemetery in town, casket companies, hospitals, nursing homes as well as introduce yourself to city, county and town staff at vital records departments as these are whom you will be interacting with. It's best to start networking now. Many people may not realize this, but funeral directing entails very heavy networking and getting your name out there.
You may be wondering why an actress knows so much about funeral directing. I have lost count on the number of relatives and friends I have or had that were Funeral Directors and they all went to the same Funeral School in New York City, NY. Not one had trouble getting a career job after they obtained their license to practice.
They all started out as an employee of a community funeral home and most went on to own their own funeral home years later. This is a career that gets better as you move forward, but you need to establish yourself and don't worry if you don't have the actual hands on experience just yet. Your first employer will be concerned that you're Licensed and know the basics.
You should be getting experience at school for grievance counseling, funeral management, embalming, business management and cosmetic body prep and cremation. You won't be able to do these things without a license, so think about doing volunteer reception work for a funeral home while you're still in school if that's what you want to do.
I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out to us again as well as your instructors and other funeral directors. Best wishes in all you do !
Some good news for you - forget about Internships, you will be a full fledged Funeral Director once you graduate and obtain your License as a Funeral Director.
After you obtain your License, start applying for employment, not internships. Make it a point to not leave Funeral Directing School with any questions left unanswered. Try to start now making very strong connections with your instructors, every funeral home and cemetery in town, casket companies, hospitals, nursing homes as well as introduce yourself to city, county and town staff at vital records departments as these are whom you will be interacting with. It's best to start networking now. Many people may not realize this, but funeral directing entails very heavy networking and getting your name out there.
You may be wondering why an actress knows so much about funeral directing. I have lost count on the number of relatives and friends I have or had that were Funeral Directors and they all went to the same Funeral School in New York City, NY. Not one had trouble getting a career job after they obtained their license to practice.
They all started out as an employee of a community funeral home and most went on to own their own funeral home years later. This is a career that gets better as you move forward, but you need to establish yourself and don't worry if you don't have the actual hands on experience just yet. Your first employer will be concerned that you're Licensed and know the basics.
You should be getting experience at school for grievance counseling, funeral management, embalming, business management and cosmetic body prep and cremation. You won't be able to do these things without a license, so think about doing volunteer reception work for a funeral home while you're still in school if that's what you want to do.
I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to reach out to us again as well as your instructors and other funeral directors. Best wishes in all you do !
Hello,
I appreciate the response; unfortunately, New York is one of the outlier states with less strict requirements. In most states, you do not become a full-fledged director until you finish one year of internship, followed by your state test, and then a few years of apprenticeship.
Kylea
I stand corrected, Kylea. I apologize. New York does require a one year residency in a funeral home. You need to handle 40 cases demonstrating competency, After the residency, you take and pass the Funeral Law Exam. New York requires 12 hours of continued education every two years for Funeral Directors. Two of those hours have to be in New York State Law. Sorry I by-passed all of that. Calling it an Internship confused me.
Michelle M.