How to Become a Professional Private Investigator?

Private Investigation is a highly interesting career that requires a multiplicity of skills and experience that most people never get the opportunity to realize or utilize. Starting from gathering evidence for a divorce case to investigating commercial piracy, private investigators are becoming an increasingly popular option for businesses and people from all walks of life. Most of them are working for insurance companies, lawyers, and businesses. They specialize in many different areas such as accident investigation, asset search/recovery, civil litigation support, criminal defense investigations, locating missing persons, loss prevention, skip tracing, tenant screening, and many more.

Career path and Duties

Today a certified private investigator can have access to a variety of personal information such as social security numbers, criminal records checks, locating databases. They may conduct surveillance and background investigations on individuals. Many companies hire them to conduct background checks and pre-employment verification. With the help of advanced technology, they recover deleted emails and files and to conduct searches of databases for information about an individual. There are all manner of investigative experts available for hire and following in this career path can be incredibly lucrative for any person with the skills and training to help them achieve success. They often work for long hours, keeping detailed notes and video for reports to supply to the clients and often spend most of the time in the field conducting surveillance related work.

Steps to becoming a Private Investigator

Private investigators are usually competent individuals who provide their investigative services to individuals, law firms, corporations, and insurance companies to help them find answers and/or address concerns relevant to their interests. There are currently no entry level requirements to become a private investigator. Aspiring candidate must be at least 18 years old (21 in select jurisdictions) and generally must have no criminal record.

The basic areas on which you need to focus on are:

1. State licensing requirements

2. Education and Training

3. Integrity investigations

4. Getting started tomorrow

First, you have to learn your state licensing requirements. Some states require a test, some don't. Some states require a degree in criminal justice, some do not. Each state is different and you can either use Google to find online state by state licensing requirements for private investigators or contact your sates dept of licensing.

Second is education. If your state requires a degree in criminal justice you'll need to go to a good school or online college. Even if your state does not require a degree your potential employer may. So you'll want to get some kinds of degree or certificate. There are many online schools that offer a Private Investigator certificate. This may not help with your state licensing board but a potential employer will be impressed that you are taking your new career choice seriously by getting some education under your belt.

You'll learn the investigation procedure of a person's past in order to determine their education level, criminal and financial records, employment history, income level and their general reputation for honesty and good citizenship.

The third is Integrity Investigations. These companies will hire inexperienced private investigator trainees to visit local businesses in their area to conduct undercover visits and see if the employees are following the store's corporate policies. Sometimes you'll visit a major dept store and take covert video. Last is getting started tomorrow. Do some investigation and find out your states licensing requirements.

Other helpful skills

You have to polish and prepare more on your writing skills. Having an excellent presenting skill will ensure you a bright future on private investigating. This is because, in this field, you will have to frequently write reports in an understandable format. You also have to maintain the quality of the reports. Impressing your clients will extremely help you because they will recommend you to others. Aspiring candidates with previous law enforcement experience may find that experience beneficial when looking for employment.