Is an end-of-life career right for you?
Why people choose end-of-life work, what education and licensing each path actually requires, and practical first steps for deciding whether it suits you.
There is no single answer, because there is no single job. This field runs from work you can start in under a year with no degree to work that takes twelve years of training, and from roles where you sit with dying people every day to roles where you never meet a family at all.
So the useful question is not whether end-of-life work suits you. It is which part of it does. Below are the things people actually know about themselves. Each one takes you to the careers that match.
Start from something you already know
Each of these opens the full list, filtered. Nothing is hidden and you can change or clear any of it once you are there.
How close to people do you want to be?
What can you commit to?
What it takes, across all 27
The most common belief about this field is that you need a degree in something specific. For most of these careers that is not true, and for a few of them it is very true indeed.
"Lowest way in" is the least you can qualify with, not the most common route. Several of these careers are usually entered by people who already hold a degree in something else. Every career page says which is which, and what a license, a certification and a training actually are is worth five minutes before you spend money on any of them.
Before you get attached to one
Every career page here has a section called "And who it is probably not for". It is worth reading before the rest of the page rather than after. Ruling something out quickly is a good outcome, and the reasons are usually practical rather than emotional: the hours, the solitude, the cost of training, or the fact that a job people think of as caring is substantially sales.
Three things are worth knowing early, because they surprise people later:
- Some of this work is self-employment, not a job. 7 of these careers have no real employer waiting at the end of the training. That suits some people and is a serious problem for others.
- A certification is not a license, and neither is training. The difference decides whether you can legally do the work at all. The difference explained.
- Pay is not published for most of it. Federal wage data exists for 9 of 27 careers here. Where it does not, we say so rather than estimating. How we handle that.
Practical first steps
In the order most people find useful. None of them require you to leave your current job.
-
1
Look at the whole range first
Most people arrive knowing about three of these jobs. Seeing all of them changes which one you end up choosing.
Browse every career -
2
Read the part about who it is not for
On any career that interests you, read that section before the rest. It is the fastest way to rule things out, which is most of the work.
Pick one and start there -
3
Find out what your state actually requires
Licensing is set state by state and is the thing most likely to change your plan. Check it before you choose a program, not after.
Licenses, certifications and training -
4
See what training exists near you
Programs are filterable by state, by credential, by what they train you for, and by whether you can study at a distance.
Find a program -
5
Check whether anyone will fund it
Scholarships and grants across the field, sorted by what the money actually pays for rather than by who awards it.
Browse funding -
6
Go and meet the field
Conferences and training workshops, with who each one is for. Attending one is the cheapest way to find out whether these are your people.
Upcoming events