Will “Undertaker Assistant” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Clean and drive funeral vehicles, such as cars or hearses, in funeral processions.

• Direct or escort mourners to parlors or chapels in which wakes or funerals are being held.

• Supervise funeral processions and assist with cemetery parking.

• Act as pallbearers.

• Embalm, dress, cosmeticize, and casket the deceased.

• Place caskets in parlors or chapels prior to wakes or funerals.

• Arrange floral offerings or lights around caskets.

• Close caskets at appropriate point in services.

• Clean funeral parlors or chapels.

• Obtain doctors' signatures on death certificate and complete other paperwork, such as insurance claims forms.

• Greet people at the funeral home.

• Perform a variety of tasks during funerals to assist funeral directors and to ensure that services run smoothly and as planned.

• Offer assistance to mourners as they enter or exit limousines.

• Obtain burial permits and register deaths.

• Transport the deceased to the funeral home.

• Issue and store funeral equipment.

• Attend to the needs of the bereaved, such as by offering comfort, counseling, or after-care programs.

• Perform general maintenance tasks for funeral homes, such as maintaining equipment or caring for funeral grounds.

• Assist with cremations and the processing and packaging of cremated remains.

• Deliver floral arrangements or other items to family members of the deceased.

• Provide advice to mourners on how to make charitable donations in honor of the deceased.

• Prepare obituaries for newspapers.

• Perform various administrative tasks, such as typing documents or answering telephone calls.

• Carry flowers to hearses or limousines for transportation to places of interment.