How To Be A Funeral Director – Singapore Ed

With retrenchment on the rise - today Agoda just had a retrenchment exercise while we saw Prive shutting down just last week, laying off all employees, it is no wonder that people are looking for alternatives as jobs that can help sustain the high cost of living in Singapore.

With the rising death rates which is not about to simmer down anytime soon thanks to the boomers generation in Singapore, the demand for healthcare workers and funeral services personnel has rose steeply in recent years as demand for the associated services increased with the silver tsunami. Seen as pretty much a recession-proof job, funeral directors and embalmers have gotten the limelight in these few years. We have seen more applicants and decided to write a post detailing down how to be a funeral director.

To be a funeral director, you do not need a certificate or licence in Singapore. In fact, unlike in other countries where there are schools offering such courses, there is an absence of a such a course here in Singapore. There was an institute that was set up previously in an attempt to offering embalming courses to Singaporeans but it shut its doors shortly after. There were mixed reviews for the course. Although it was informative, it was not practical as it did not help the graduates get any jobs or internships thereafter. The funeral industry is still very much closed doors to most as majority of them are family-owned, passed down from generations to generations and it is no surprise that the older folks prefer to keep it that way, for practical reasons.

For learning the basics - theory and for the sake of up-skilling yourself, you can consider online funeral directing courses offered by schools in other countries and states but what they teach might not be wholly applicable in the local Singapore context.

Before even joining this industry, I would highly recommend you to take a quick read at Echoes Of Farewell here first as it details down how life as a funeral director is in Singapore in an uncensored, genuine manner. Some have read the book and backed out from wanting a career in this industry while for some, it reinforced their passion to become funeral director. Getting the book and reading it is a good first step to pursuing your life-long career if you are serious about it. The fee for the book will be worth the while as the book even has a step-by-step guide as to how to be a funeral director and embalmer in Singapore.

Funeral directing can be fun with all its dynamism and meaningful but it also comes with very real disadvantages like shorter to no time to spend with family members on important festivals, working at odd hours and being constantly stressed out by the negative vibes associated with death.

At Harmony Funeral Care, we are an expanding company and all newcomers are welcomed as long as they have the right attitude to learn., be selfless and contribute to the death industry. As it is an expanding company, changes are fast to stay relevant with the time and you can be part of the catalyst for the change which is exciting. This however also means you will be learning and doing a lot compared to other more mundane roles. If you are looking to have a very structured and fixed role, do consider bigger companies which have specialised departments. The reality of why companies have different departments besides specialisation of roles is to prevent a single person from accumulating all the information they need to start their own company. Starting a company however, takes a whole new different set of skills which would not be discussed here. It is easy to start a company but definitely not easy to maintain and keep the business going. The market as of now is already saturated and if you are not one of the better players, get ready to be ousted out within months.

Harmony Funeral Care believes that whoever joins our team is under our care. This is why it is our aim to groom those under us to be successful funeral directors. Training will be provided but do note that learning is a two way street and as much as we provide the adequate theoretical and practical training for those who join us, it also depends on how much they are willing to learn and absorb and work hard to become who they can be.

Being a funeral director in Singapore is no easy feat and one can be successful in this line only if you truly see a purpose in what you do. Start off at any company you feel resonate with you the most and work your way up starting from scratch. That is the only way you can be a funeral director, successfully. There is no short-cut to success and the formula is always dependent on you.