How to Hire Veterans for Funeral and Mortuary Services

Funeral homes run on people who stay calm when families fall apart. That is the hardest seat in the business to fill. You need someone who shows up early and handles a body with care. You need them to speak gently to a grieving widow at 2 a.m.

Most applicants have never seen death up close. They freeze, they burn out, or they quit inside a year. Veterans are different. Many have carried the dead, folded the flag, and stood beside grieving families. Some made it their full-time job.

This guide shows you how to find those veterans and hire them well. It covers the exact military jobs that feed into death care. It also covers what to check on a resume and how to keep them for the long haul.

Why veterans fit funeral and mortuary work

Death care asks for a rare mix of traits. You need steady hands and a soft voice in the same person. You need someone who treats a stranger's body with total respect. Veterans train for exactly this.

Start with composure. Service members work through chaos without losing focus. A grieving family in your arrangement room will not rattle them. That calm is the core skill of a funeral director.

Next comes ceremony. The military runs on ritual done right, every time. A flag fold, a rifle volley, a slow salute. Veterans understand that the details carry the meaning. A rushed or sloppy service insults the family, and they know it.

Then there is reliability. Death does not keep business hours. Removals happen at midnight and on holidays. Veterans are used to being on call and answering the phone. They will not ghost you when a call comes in at a bad time.

Last is respect for the dead. No job posting can teach that value. It either lives in a person or it does not. Many veterans hold it deep, because they have lost people they served with.

The Mortuary Affairs job is a near-direct feeder

One military job maps almost cleanly onto your work. In the Army it is the 92M Mortuary Affairs Specialist. In the Marine Corps it is the 0471 Personnel Retrieval and Processing Specialist.

These service members recover the fallen, confirm who they are, and care for the remains. They document personal effects and prepare the deceased for transport home. They do this under hard conditions and with tight standards. The work demands dignity, paperwork, and a strong stomach.

That skill set lines up with the back of your funeral home. A former 92M or 0471 already understands chain of custody. They understand identification and careful handling of remains. They have seen more than most embalmers see in a decade.

These veterans are not common, and you will not find crowds of them. But when one applies, take the interview seriously. The training behind that job title is worth a long look. Read the deep career page above to see how the role translates before you call.

Honor guard and casualty duty prepared them for families

You do not need a Mortuary Affairs background to make a great hire. Many veterans served on an honor guard or a funeral detail. Others carried out casualty notification and family assistance. That work is closer to your front of house.

Honor guard members fold flags and present them to widows and parents. They rehearse until every motion is exact. They stand in the rain and the heat without breaking form. That is ceremony discipline you can put to work at a graveside.

Casualty assistance officers sat with families on the worst day of their lives. They explained benefits and paperwork through tears. They learned to be present without rushing anyone. Your arrangement conference needs that same patience.

When you screen candidates, ask about these duties by name. A veteran may not list "grief support" on a resume. But a line about honor guard or casualty duty tells you a lot. It signals someone who has faced death and stood tall.

What the first hard call looks like

Picture a first-night removal at a nursing home. The family stands in the hallway, raw and unsure. A civilian rookie often stalls or looks away. A veteran walks in with a calm, quiet plan.

They introduce themselves in a low, steady voice. They explain each step before they take it. They handle the deceased with slow, deliberate care. The family watches and feels safe for the first time that night.

That moment is the whole job in one scene. It is not taught in a single week of training. It comes from years of standing near loss and holding form. That is what a veteran carries through your door.

Ask your best current staffer what they wish new hires had. You will hear the same answer again and again. They wish new hires had nerve and heart under pressure. Veterans tend to bring both by default.

What to look for on a veteran's resume

Military resumes hide their best parts in plain language. You have to know where to look. A short scan can miss the exact skills your funeral home needs. Slow down and read for the traits that matter here.

Look for words like remains, honor guard, ceremony, and casualty. Look for logistics, transport, and accountability of sensitive items. Look for any role that put the person in front of grieving people. These signals matter more than a fancy job title.

Also watch for leadership at a young age. A 24-year-old sergeant ran a team and answered for their work. That maturity helps in a business built on trust. Our guide on how to evaluate a veteran resume walks through the decoding step by step.

Do not screen a veteran out for a lack of funeral experience. The teachable parts are the embalming room and the software. The hard parts are composure, care, and reliability. Those already come baked in.

Keep licensing questions simple and state-specific

Licensing is where many good hires get tangled up. The rules for funeral directors and embalmers are set by each state. They differ a lot from one place to the next. Do not assume you know another state's rules.

Most states need a funeral director or embalmer to hold a license. That path often includes mortuary science school and an apprenticeship. A veteran will not walk in with that license already. Neither will most civilian hires off the street.

So separate the licensed roles from the support roles when you hire. A veteran can start as an apprentice, a removal tech, or a family service staffer. They can earn the license while they work. Check your own state board for the exact steps.

The GI Bill can help a veteran pay for mortuary science school. That lowers your training cost and builds loyalty. Point them to their state approving agency to confirm the program qualifies. Let the veteran and the school sort out the benefit details.

Where a veteran will need coaching

Veterans arrive strong on the hard parts and softer on a few others. Know where to help so the first year goes well. A little coaching up front saves a good hire from an early exit.

The pre-need sales side is the biggest gap. Selling caskets and plans feels foreign to many veterans at first. They may see it as pushy or beneath the moment. Show them that a good pre-need plan is a gift to the family.

Civilian softness is the other adjustment. Military feedback is blunt and fast. Grieving clients need a slower, warmer touch. They get there quickly once you name the difference and model it.

Paperwork and software round out the list. Every funeral home runs on its own systems and permits. Give the veteran a checklist and a mentor for the first 90 days. Our guide on running a veteran mentorship program lays out a simple structure.

Run a short pilot before you scale

You do not need a big program to start hiring veterans. One or two hires will tell you what you need to know. A short, clear trial period protects both sides.

Set a 90-day plan with plain goals and weekly check-ins. Pair the veteran with your steadiest staffer. Watch how they handle a first removal and a first arrangement. Most owners are surprised by the calm they bring.

Our guide on running a 90-day veteran hiring pilot gives you the full playbook. It works for a two-person funeral home or a small chain. Start small, learn fast, and grow the program from real results.

Retention: why veterans stay in a demanding field

Turnover is the quiet killer in death care. Training a new hire takes months and costs real money. Veterans tend to stay, and the reason is simple. The work has weight, and they want work that matters.

A veteran left the service looking for a new mission. Caring for the dead and their families is a real one. That sense of purpose keeps people in seats that others flee. It also shows up in the quality of the service.

Odd hours and hard scenes drive many civilians out. Veterans have already lived that life. A 3 a.m. call is not a shock to someone who stood watch. They signed up knowing the job would be heavy.

There is a cost angle here too. Every early exit means another round of hiring and training. In a small funeral home, one bad year of churn hurts. A steady veteran hire protects your calendar and your reputation. Families notice when the same trusted faces greet them each time.

Support that instinct and they will anchor your team. Give them respect, a clear role, and a path to a license. Run a smaller shop? Our guide on hiring veterans with no recruiting budget shows how to compete for them.

How to set pay and interview the right way

Pay is tricky when a veteran has no civilian job history. You cannot anchor to a past salary that does not exist. Anchor to the role and the local market for that role. Our guide on setting pay for a veteran with no civilian history breaks it down.

The interview matters just as much as the offer. Skip the trick questions and the abstract puzzles. Ask about a time they handled loss or comforted a family. Ask how they stay steady when a scene turns grim.

Give the veteran room to translate their own story. Many have never described their service to a civilian boss. A warm, plain conversation pulls out the gold. Our guide on how to interview a veteran candidate gives you the questions.

Composure around grief is the trait to test above all. The same skill shows up in combat medics and corpsmen, who work close to death every day. Front-facing service polish comes from the hospitality and service side, where many veterans already shine.

How to reach veteran candidates for these roles

Finding these veterans is the last piece. They rarely post on the big job boards for funeral work. They may not know your funeral home is open to them. You have to go to where they build their resumes.

That is where Best Military Resume comes in. Our pool adds more than 1,000 new profiles every month. Over 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. These are service members writing out their skills in plain terms.

You can reach them without a big recruiting team. Search for the traits your funeral home needs and open a conversation. The people who carried the dead in uniform are ready for new work. Meet them where they are already looking.

Two U.S. government resources can round out your plan. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook for funeral service workers shows steady demand and yearly openings. The Department of Labor VETS hiring page lays out employer supports for veteran hiring.

Ready to meet the candidates? Reach out through our employer hire page to access the talent pool. You can also start a longer conversation on our partner with us page. The right hire for your funeral home may already be in the pool.