If you have a natural interest in solving mysteries, and think you have great deductive and analytical skills, you can establish a career as a private investigator. In recent years the field of private investigations has been growing in terms of popularity and demand. As a private investigator, you can be able to either gain employment in an established private investigations firm or alternatively establish your own practice. In this field you will be able to work with clients ranging from insurance companies, individuals, companies and law firms among others. Depending on the country or state you are looking to establish your private investigations career, you will have to satisfy different requirements.

A typical list of activities you have to handle as a private investigator includes:

  • Serving various court documents including summonses
  • Investigating false insurance claims
  • Commercial/industrial sabotage cases as well

Variety Of Potential Working Assignments

A private investigations career comes with a variety of potential working assignments including surveillance, monitoring and tracing assignments among others as listed above. Typical assignment can include working with an insurance company, investigating fraudulent claims filed by insured persons. This is vital in avoiding the payment of false claims which results in the wastage of useful insurance funds. This can be achieved by a variety of investigative techniques including surveillance and monitoring of the insured person as well.

Private Investigator Working Hours

In your career as a private investigator you will find that you have to work varying hours as opposed to a standard amount of hours as is the case with other occupations. In most cases, the length of a private investigator’s working day/week is determined by the requirements of the assignment they are involved in. When working on a missing persons case, the hours may be longer than when assisting a company with their security guard surveillance.

Income Of A Private Investigator

Before you decide to pursue a career as a private investigator you need to first need to consider the amount of income you can get. This is highly dependent on whether you work in your own company or seek employment in an established company. The income derived from this line of work is also directly related to the time invested in various assignments. Lengthy assignments that have no predetermined working hours such as those involving provision of personal protection services yield a different level of income as compared to assignments that usually entail the application of professional skills of financial analysts.

Private Investigator Training

To become a private investigator, it is necessary to begin by getting the required training before seeking registration and licensing. The necessary training is determined by the intended field of operation. For instance to work in forensic auditing assignments, you will need to have the necessary training in addition to the basic training as prescribed by the regulations on licensing.