Funeral Advisor

Families who have experienced a loss need someone they can rely on, who will be willing to go the extra mile to make a heart-breaking situation easier to bear. They will 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 a Funeral Advisor, you will take pride in the day-to-day running of our Funeral homes – supporting our families, ensuring high standards and building trusted relationships. Being a co-operative member, you will 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 will blend empathy, organisation and local connection. You will be assisting families with all aspects of the funeral arrangement process - making sure that they feel well supported and informed.

Some of your key responsibilities will include:

• Through developing your knowledge of all the services we offer (including our coffin range, our choice of masonry and floral tributes), together with actively listening about the person who has died and understanding the families' wishes, you will be able to provide the choices that they need to personalise the funeral service.
• Arrange Funerals - paying attention to detail and transparency of cost.
• Communicate clearly and accurately the arrangements between both the family and Funeral Director.
• Administration duties – handling complex information with accuracy, sensitivity and care.
• Making sure that the Funeral Home is kept clean and tidy at all times as well as ensuring the security of the premises (including opening and closing of funeral home i.e. alarms).
• Acting as a co-operative 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 that you will need to be comfortable with duties that require you to have close treatment of the person who has died - making sure that all activities are carried out respectfully and with dignity. Duties will include daily care checks of the person who has died, preparation for visiting rooms - in which the coffin lid will be removed and checks carried out to make sure that the person who has died is ready for visiting again.

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

Due to the nature of this role, you will need to bring a compassionate nature and be able to demonstrate active listening skills, enabling you to provide a high standard of support. You will need a keen eye for detail as well as the ability to handle complex information with accuracy, sensitivity and care. You will be comfortable in 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 will need to bring strong communication, organisation and administrative skills. Prior experience in an administration role is desirable.

Everyone is welcome here. We are happy to make reasonable adjustments so that all our candidates can show us how they will perform their role. There is a section in the application form where you can provide any additional information. Please use this section to include any reasonable adjustments you need, and we will do our best to support you through our 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 - our hub offers colleagues 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 colleague's achievements both personally and professionally.
• Personalised learning and development - with easy access to a wide range of training programmes.
• Paid time for volunteering - we encourage our colleagues to spend three days per year taking part in volunteering, fully paid for by us.
• Enhanced family friendly policies - to help you feel fully supported during any significant life events.
• Annual health check kit and virtual GP – Finger prick blood test kit, that is sent to Square Healthcare for your personal healthcare report, and access to a virtual GP 7 days a week 8am to 8pm for you and your family.
• Colleague assistance programme – to support you and your family when you need it the most.
• Healthcare Cashplan - your wellbeing is important, so you have the opportunity to contribute into a voluntary plan that helps pay towards a range of healthcare expenses.
• Company sick pay – We offer company sick pay to colleagues so that you can focus on getting better and returning to work in full health.
• Life Assurance - after an initial qualifying period, you will get free life assurance cover, that pays your nominated beneficiary if you die while you are working for us.
• We have got you – our colleague wellbeing campaign, making wellbeing benefits and resources accessible and relevant to the role that you do.
• Give as you earn - helping you support charities which mean something to you.
• iTrent Financial Wellbeing (Wagestream) - offers something for all our colleagues, whether you want to track your finances, save some money, or access up to 50% of your earned pay flexibly in a way that suits you.
• The Money Co-op – Free access to support all aspects of your financial wellbeing, such as savings and loans at competitive rates.
• Salary Sacrifice schemes:

• Electric Vehicle scheme – Option to purchase your EV through salary sacrifice.
• Share Incentive Plan (SIP) – option to buy shares within the Society, where they will attract interest and £10 worth of matching shares.
• Cycle to Work scheme – Option to purchase your bicycle and accessories through salary sacrifice.
• Holiday buy - colleagues can buy up to a week extra of annual leave each year.

To find out more about all of these plus many more reasons to join us, please visit Rewards and benefits - Central Coop.

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 Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Bedfordshire in the South and West; the Midlands including Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire; the North including Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire; and the East of England, including Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.