In the funeral business, your business is only as good as its talent. More than your facilities and pricing, customer service will leave the most lasting impression on families, ultimately determining whether or not they return and whether your business grows.
Because of this, funeral directors must take a proactive approach to attracting and retaining talent. By reaching out to promising death care professionals and creating an exceptional place to work, you can ensure that the best people in death care will want to join your funeral business.
Here are five proven strategies for recruiting talent to join your team.
1. Get Involved in Mortuary Schools
One place to get started is with local mortuary schools. Although there’s always a need for experienced talent, it’s also a good idea to seek out those who are new to the death care profession.
To get involved with these institutions, consider volunteering to give talks or lead workshops. If possible, you might even teach a course. All these methods will help you get directly in front of the people who are dedicated to your profession. Once you’ve made some connections with students, you can then invite them to join a program that allows them to shadow you or other members of your team.
2. Create an Apprenticeship
For many prospective candidates, it’s important to see a trajectory in a potential employer. For example, an ambitious new hire will likely want to continually acquire new skills, take on additional responsibilities, and increase their compensation. Apprenticeships offer a tangible way to provide this to candidates.
To build an apprenticeship program, you’ll want to establish its duration (often 1-3 years), a structure for mastering skills, and a pay scale. At the end of the apprenticeship, an apprentice should obtain a death care-specific certification that they can continue to utilize at your business after completing the program.
3. Invest in Social Media
Although you should already be using social media to attract clients to your funeral home, this same set of tools can also be part of your recruitment strategy. Career-focused social media outlets like LinkedIn allow you to post jobs and reach out to candidates directly. Alternatively, Facebook has many groups for mortuary school graduates and other aspiring death care professionals.
To attract younger, less experienced talent, you might even consider diving into TikTok. By creating videos that walk viewers through the day-to-day functions of your business, you’ll likely generate interest from people completely outside the death care profession.
4. Offer Amazing Benefits
In the wake of the Great Resignation, employers in all industries must work harder than ever to ensure their businesses are attractive places to work. Offering a good work-life balance and comprehensive benefits is more important than ever. Additionally, many employees now come to expect 401k employer contributions and work-from-home availability.
Beyond benefits, you’ll want to create a workplace culture of inclusivity, respect, and transparency. Investing in leadership training can help you build a cohesive team where members feel respected and supported.
Onboarding new team members is a crucial part of an excellent first impression. During this time, make sure each new hire sees that your workplace is professional and compassionate. If they feel that your workplace will respect them and meet their needs, then they’ll be all the more likely to stick around for the long haul.
5. Lean on the Experts
Attracting and retaining quality talent is no easy feat. After all, many larger businesses have entire teams devoted to recruiting new hires and managing employee satisfaction. Because of this, it’s often best for funeral professionals to lean on the experts.
At Johnson Consulting Group, our team of experienced death care consultants can help you build, implement, and monitor a program for attracting the industry’s best talent. By partnering with your funeral home’s leadership, our consultants can examine every aspect of your business, identify areas for growth, and help you execute a plan to recruit and retain new blood.
In the post-pandemic world, workers are more choosy than ever when it comes to their employers. To help make sure your funeral business has the best people, you’ll need a multi-channel strategy. JCG consultants can help make sure you do it right.
ATTRACT TOP TALLENT