to worry that DD's chosen career can only earn a maximum of £27,000??

[soups1]

dd is clever. she has 3 a-levels in maths, psychology and law. She has a lot of potential for many areas. They are not amazing a-level grades, so uni is possible but maybe having to do 4 years or just a local uni, but there are lots of jobs she could do with those a-levels and go on to earn well.

She has decided she wants to do embalming/funeral work. I don't have an issue with the chosen career (although i don't get it!) but it doesn't pay well. A maximum of 27,000 and that is a lot of graduates starter money! she is hoping to go on an embalmer 2 year course soon and a lot of the time they can get jobs through there, as people contact that school and ask for people who are finishing. i am just worried about her choice.

aibu? 27000 forever isnt that much

I would encourage her to seek some work experience to ensure she is suited to and has the stomach for it. It will be a 'quiet' and somewhat lonely job I would imagine.
In terms of career development she could eventually start up her own business, also it is a job where it is possible to work locally and not have a large commute. It is portable, you can find work anywhere, etc.
I also agree, either doing something which gets you rich quick, or doing a job you love is important in these days where young people may not be able to retire.

I'd strongly encourage her to get practical work experience in the field first (apologies if you've mentioned that she has already). But if she's keen on this, support her.

I've gone from earning a lot as a lawyer (was on £130k at 27) to earning much less running my own very niche business, but I wake up every day happy and excited about my work. Once you get above a certain (and rather low) earnings threshold, job satisfaction is far more important.

OP death is still a taboo in our country and I can imagine if one of mine came to me and said they wanted to train as an embalmer, I might have to quickly get over my initial 'whaaaat?' and remind myself that this is a very valuable career, great for sensitive and caring (and skilled) people, plus undoubtedly a growth area, I expect the market will fragment a bit as well and you will have in the future more 'high end' stuff as well as your everyday companies. Perhaps your focusing on the salary is also about being mystified by this choice as well?

I help students at a RG university with jobs and I think getting several years ahead of the game, with a ok salary for those years is not a bad alternative to many of them, some do well, some really don't and end up further in debt with internships but it can take a decade or more to end up on £27000 even from that supposedly advantageous starting point, so I don't think she would be worse off. If she's hit the dizzy heights of her earning by mid-twenties, my bet is that she'll use that to do something else that earns more, or as others have said, enjoy a job which has other benefits.

I wouldn't say going to uni with not great A level grades in softer subjects was the better option here.

My DH did work experience embalming and the guy was making a fortune! he was self employed and charged o average £200 a body and each took him about an hour I think. He said he was constantly overworked and had people begging him to work extra for them. Sounds pretty lucrative to me!

Like people have said, I am seeing lots of graduates earn very little, with limited prospects. Delivery courier, TA, HCA, call centre worker, bar staff, shop assistant.
These are all real people I know, and have good degrees from good Uni's. (Must have excellent a levels too )

yes she has been looking at being a funeral service operative first so she has some experience in that field. like i say, i dont care about what job she has/money, i just want her to be happy and have enough to live off of.

I'm glad she will try to get some work experience first. An interest in horror movies isn't the greatest reason for this ambition...

My mum said exactly the same about me. Put me off my chosen career, i went to uni etc.

Only for my chosen career to suddenly turn around from the volunteer and hobby job it was, to an increasingly money spinning industry. If I'd have followed my path i'd have caught the wave and been earning triple, working for myself.

All she needs is to find a usp or some sort of niche, or to set up her own business, and she could be earning way more.

Let her do what she wants.

My brother is an embalmer. He currently earns £28,000 in the Midlands. He plans to open his own funeral directors in a few years where his earnings could be double his current rate.

There are lots of options once qualified and oportunities will arise for your dd to diversify if she wanted to. Theres also lots of overtime available too to bump up the basic salary. Obviously people die at all hours of the day and my brother is paid more for shifts 'on call' than during the day. His overtime is almost guaranteed. Its a really good industry to get in to.

I agree with PPs that I would advise my child to go to university unless they really wanted to. So much debt and no guarantee of a job. I'd rather they did work exp and found something they were passionate about, the perusing that whether it is through uni or not.

matilda, that isnt what she has said lol, that was just me saying that she is ok with stuff like death.

she gives technical reasons why she wants the job, like providing a service for people but i dont really get that!

I think it's a low salary to live in the South East of the UK, though might be okay in parts of the North/Scotland.

Someone else mentioned that she couldn't afford childcare on it and that's definitely true in Essex where I'm guessing a nursery is a grand a month.

That said, maybe it's best she works this out by herself. She will have friends doing P.A. roles on more than that if commuting to the City. She could always retrain in the future if she wanted to.

Sounds like a typical adolescent whim to me. With no experience how can she know this is specifically what she wants to do? She might find herself horrified and traumatised, she doesn't know.

I think the success or not of this choice will very much depend on her reaction to seeing dead bodies and working with them, as well as the quality of training for that. Someone has to do it, but she needs to know if that can be her before closing down other options.

I also think she should get some work experience first, liking horror movies is very different to the reality of actually doing the job she is choosing.

I think we need to let them make their own way. My daughter is the opposite end, she's doing law, and I worry that the job will be all consuming and effect her quality of life, as well as the difficulties she will face as she qualifies. I really don't think there is an ideal job and it's not all about money.

Well maybe someday she will own her own funeral homes - that will rake in the big bucks!

Will she buildup student debt on her course or would it be paid for through work? Her salary will go further if she doesn't have to repay £ 40 k + of student debt.

As others have said, there will always be work! There may well be career progression beyond an embalmer too, including potential to become a partner or owner of a business.

If she enjoys it - it could actually be a great career.

oh gosh i will look after her children!! i dont expect her to spend 1000 on childcare, i would love to have her kids cannot wait

I think everyone saying she should get experience is spot on. Can she shadow a funeral director/staff for a week sooner rather than later? It really is critical she knows what the job involves.

her only experience is seeing a post mortem which she was lucky to get. so she is aware of dead bodies, although she didnt take part

Ageing population... just saying.. .this is a growth area.

If she's good she could end up owning her own business. The salary will be higher than you expect.

she says she has tried to get a week of work experience but no family ones will let her, they did suggest the coop to her though, so she is going to look into that

Used to work in a funeral directors, it can be a licence to print money. If she can become an embalmer there are many many opportunities for her. Somebody I know travels to disaster zones. ( tsunami etc). And is part of an international organisation, don't know what it's called, they coordinate things for the retrieval and identification of bodies.

Could she ask for a week's work experience at a local funeral service? I encourage students to ask for this, usually places don't mind especially if you say that you are keen to follow that career path. I have a friend whose daughter has done a lot of work experience in dentistry, again, I think that's a career that you either would or wouldn't want to do, I can't imagine anything worse than being around other people's mouths all day, but she loves it, sees the social/service side, enjoys that type of skills. That's what you need to know.

oh and she has been to the chapel of rest a lot of times unfortuately, im not saying its the same thing but that with the post mortem does mean she has 'seen dead bodies'

If some have said no, she could write a letter asking for work experience (perhaps organized through school?) and deliver it by hand and perhaps chat to the owner/manager of Co-op about if/how they would allow that? Or try the next town along.