zzxxee - my grandfather started his own funeral business which taken over by my dad and is currently being run by one of my brothers. We've all helped out over the years so I have some knowledge.
There are not many independant funeral directors left these days and out of the "big" firms, I would say that the Co-op is among the best. They tend not to advertise for staff in the papers but use the Job Centre or rely on word of mouth. There are various jobs within the funeral service. There are the "casual" staff - usually men of a certain age who help out as bearers. There are the office/reception staff who can combine their role with another, such as embalmer. There are full time embalmers, and then there are funeral directors. To become a funeral director you have to qualify, usually doing part time study whilst working. To become an embalmer is the same. I would suggest the best way in is to let all your local funeral directors know you are looking for work in that field should a vacancy arise. Be warned - if you are training to be a funeral director you will have to be "on call" at night, and being summonsed from a cosy bed at 3am to wrestle a heavy corpse down a narrow flight of stairs is not fun! Let me know if you want more info. xx