Funeral Advisor in Birmingham

Families who’ve experienced a loss need someone they can rely on, who’ll be willing to go the extra mile to make a heart-breaking situation easier to bear. They’ll need someone to carefully guide them during one of the hardest moments of their lives. This is where you can make a real difference. Joining us as Funeral Advisor, you’ll take pride in the day-to-day running of our Funeral homes – supporting our families, ensuring high standards and building trusted relationships. As a cooperative member, you’ll be flexible and cover other Funeral Homes (as required) for sickness and holidays, as well as arranging funerals at the clients’ premises (as required). In this varied role, you’ll blend empathy, organisation and local connection, assisting families with all aspects of the funeral arrangement process and ensuring they feel well supported and informed.

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Develop knowledge of all services we offer (including coffin range, choice of masonry and floral tributes) and actively listen to the person who has died to understand the families’ wishes, enabling you to provide the choices they need to personalise the funeral service.
• Arrange funerals with attention to detail and transparency of cost.
• Communicate clearly and accurately the arrangements between the family and Funeral Director.
• Administration duties – handling complex information with accuracy, sensitivity and care.
• Keep the Funeral Home clean and tidy at all times and ensure the security of the premises (including opening and closing of the funeral home and alarms).
• Act as a cooperative member, promoting Funeral Services within the local community.
• Build good working relationships with hospitals, nursing homes, local clergy and doctors.
• Comply with all statutory and internal policies and procedures.

Working in our funeral homes means you’ll need to be comfortable with duties that require close treatment of the person who has died, carried out respectfully and with dignity. Duties will include daily care checks and preparation for visiting rooms to ensure the person who has died is ready for visiting again.

Please note as of 1 December 2023, new joiners to our Funeral Business will be subject to a standard DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. All offers are conditional on us receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the DBS.

Due to the nature of this role, you’ll need to bring a compassionate nature and demonstrate active listening skills to provide a high standard of support. You’ll need a keen eye for detail and the ability to handle complex information with accuracy, sensitivity and care. You’ll be comfortable building good working relationships, both internally and externally. A full UK Driving licence is essential, together with flexibility and a willingness to travel in the area when required. You’ll need to bring strong communication, organisation and administrative skills; prior experience in an administration role is desirable.

Everyone is welcome here. We’re happy to make reasonable adjustments so that all our candidates can show us how they’ll perform their role. Please use the application form to include any reasonable adjustments you need, and we’ll support you through the recruitment process.

In addition to our competitive salaries, our colleagues also benefit from:

• Fantastic colleague discount – Reward ££’s and discounts across our Retail and Funeral businesses.
• Retail discounts – access to hundreds of exclusive retail discounts, savings on days out and holiday discounts.
• Colleague Dividend – we pay a share of our profits to eligible colleagues as a thank you for their contribution to our success.
• Colleague recognition – we celebrate our colleagues’ achievements both personally and professionally.
• Personalised learning and development – easy access to a wide range of training programmes.
• Paid time for volunteering – three days per year fully paid for volunteering.
• Enhanced family friendly policies – to help you feel fully supported during significant life events.
• Wellbeing – annual health check kit and virtual GP, plus a wellbeing campaign with resources relevant to your role.
• Colleague assistance programme – support for you and your family when you need it most.
• Healthcare Cashplan – plan that helps pay towards a range of healthcare expenses.
• Company sick pay – support to focus on recovery and return to work in full health.
• Life Assurance – free life assurance cover after an initial qualifying period.
• We’ve got you – colleague wellbeing campaign with accessible wellbeing benefits.
• Give as you earn – support charities meaningful to you.
• iTrent Financial Wellbeing (Wagestream) – track finances, save, or access up to 50% of earned pay flexibly.
• The Money Co-op – free access to support all aspects of financial wellbeing, such as savings and loans.
• Salary Sacrifice schemes.
• Electric Vehicle scheme – option to purchase your EV through salary sacrifice.
• Share Incentive Plan (SIP) – option to buy shares with matching benefits.
• Cycle to Work scheme – option to purchase bicycle and accessories.
• Holiday buy – colleagues can buy extra annual leave.
• Company Pension – access to a company pension scheme and welfare information.
• Nous – smart assistant to help manage household bills.

To find out more about these plus many more reasons to join us, please visit Rewards and benefits information via our careers site.

OurCoop is the UK’s largest independent co-operative Society, with more than one million Members and 13,000 colleagues operating in communities nationwide. It was formed by bringing together Central Co-op, The Midcounties Co-operative and Chelmsford Star Co-op to create a stronger, member-owned organisation rooted in shared co-operative values. The Society trades nationally through its family of businesses while remaining deeply rooted in local communities. Its footprint spans the South and West, the Midlands, the North, and the East of England. OurCoop and its family of businesses are trading names of Central England Co-operative Limited.