Private investigator as a career path is slowly becoming one of the top respected professions in the UK. These individuals spend a better part of their time working and finding information for other people. Simply put, private investigators are selfless, even to a fault. For this reason, private investigators are well-trained to handle any kind of investigations. From surveillance, lie detector tests, debugging, protection, to GPS tracking amongst others, private investigators are the best individuals to call for assistance.

Skills And Traits

There are certain skills and traits that are desired in private investigators. These skills and traits is what differentiate a professional private investigator from the rest. Some of these skills and traits includes but not limited to:

  • Strong communication skills – a great part of being a private investigator is being able to communicate with clients. You should be able to understand and respond to questions being asked by the client and be able to relay results and findings back to the client.
  • Superb observational skills – in the course of an investigation, how great you are in observing things around you can easily make or break the case. While this skill can be learnt, it’s of a greater advantage if it’s more of an innate trait.
  • Integrity and honesty – private investigators are usually faced with sensitive information. You should not compromise your professionalism for anything and should be able to tell the client what exactly is required of you by the client
  • Patience and perseverance – this is one of the top desired traits required of a private investigator. Most of your investigations would put these traits to test. Some investigations would require a great amount of your time. You may have to sit in a position for hours just to get a breakthrough in a case
  • Basic computer skills – in this day and age, this is a requirement for almost all professions, and private detectives are not left out. When in the office, you will be expected to work with your computer for research and preparing results.

The next thing to be taking into consideration in your journey to becoming a private investigator, you will need sufficient training. While a high school diploma is the required minimum for private investigators, you will need certain certifications to become a professional. You could enrol in a university or apply over the internet for an online course related to investigation.

If you intend working with the police department, you should consider getting certificate in CSI (Crime Scene Investigation). If you’ll be involved in surveillance investigations, there are quite a number of training courses available in surveillance that one can get qualified in.

Experience is another factor to you may need to take into consideration. Having a background in a related field is a good experience as one can add to the portfolio. If there’s no experience in the field or any related to it, you could volunteer for some freelance jobs or work closely with other professional private investigators.

As a private investigator looking to work in the UK, you would need a SIA licence. To be licenced, you will need to take an exam and pass it. For more information on how to take the exam and more on getting a licence, you can visit the SIA website.