"The Journey to Becoming a Funeral Director"

A funeral director shares how his interest in the profession began, the education and licensing required, and the steps it takes to build a successful career in funeral service.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

So you graduated from high school in 2005. Um what high school did you graduate from? I was homeschooled. Okay. Um so graduated from American high school. Okay, nice. So then you started uh after high school working at a funeral home part-time in 2006 and began as a funeral assistant and became an intern. Um then you went to John Tyler Community College and earned an associate's degree in mortuary science. Um after graduation, uh you took your national board exams and state board exams to become a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Virginia. Um and now your current job is the assistant manager and your uh licensed funeral director and embalmer um there in Virginia. Yes. So uh let's kind of take a little bit of a deep dive into this. This is quite the unique uh topic in itself, but also career that a lot a lot of people talk about. Um so you said you were homeschooled. Um so what kind of led you in then after high school getting into the funeral home industry and taking that intern position?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Sure. Um so dad being a pastor, um we were, you know, of course, visiting funeral homes for visitation services of church members that had passed and and all. And so uh just kind of became interested in it, uh, not the typical profession that you'd be looking at. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an airline pilot, but that didn't quite work out. So um I was started getting interested in it. And so um uh, of course, we had a relationship with you know the local funeral home that did most of the funerals um in the church, and so um my dad talked to uh the owner and said that I was interested, and so it just started there part-time um when I got out of high school, and then it became a full-time um position and uh started internship and just kind of went from there.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Wow. Okay, so then you went to a community college. So what was that like? Was like a two-year program? Yes. Or okay. So then you graduated um from that. So did you have to go on to mortuary school or did you like was you able to do all that at the community college?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

I was able to do it all at the community college.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Um there in Virginia? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Okay, yeah. Yes. Everything was done there. Um and uh after graduated took my national boards and state state board exam and then became licensed and so what's the process of schooling uh to become licensed in mortuary? Sure. Sure. So whether you go to a um community college or you go to a dedicated mortuary science school, um, you know, of course you have your you know basic classes, but then you go into um psychology of death and dying, um, you know, accounting, um, you know, history, uh history of uh funeral service, uh then you go into the technical, like the embalming and restorative art and uh things like that. And then you have to uh of course do labs. Um you can either do that at the at the school or you can do it at a local funeral home. Wow. Um so that's how that goes. And then once you uh complete your degree, then you have to take the national boards, um, which uh consists of two exams, arts and sciences, you can take them together or take them separately. And then once you complete that, uh then whatever state you're gonna uh be working in, then you take that uh particular state's exam, and uh that's on state rules and regulations and laws and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Now is that through the school or is that something like that? That's through the state. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Once you once you finish your national uh board exams, then you go to your a particular state and go through their uh state board and take the test through there. And then once you do that, then you're licensed to practice. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Wow. So it's a little bit of a process. It is. What are the what are the tests like hard level wise?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Um well to be honest, uh a lot of people that I was in uh school with, uh there was a lot of people failing uh the national board, so I was quite nervous about it, wondering what is it gonna be like. But basically a lot of it is um, you know, of course, some rules and things like that, but a lot of it ends up being like scenarios, um questions like that. And so it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was. And then of course the state is your um locality's rules and regulations and um those types of things.