What is a Private Investigator Job?
Almost everyone is familiar with the private investigator whose main job is tracking down unfaithful spouses. However, not as many people understand that private investigators jobs involve more than that.
A private investigator is a person many people turn to when they have a case the police won't solve or a case that is too sensitive to entrust to the system. This means that there are many different private investigator jobs that private citizens, corporations and other entities can turn to these experts for. If you think you have what it takes to perform private investigator jobs, this can be an excellent career for you.
What Tasks Do Private Investigator Jobs Involve?
As a working private investigator, there are many different detective jobs you will be expected to carry out. Even a single investigation may involve a plethora of individual detective jobs to uncover the truth.
Some of the tasks you'll carry out during these detective jobs include:
- Surveillance: There are many investigator jobs that will require surveillance including marital investigations and internal theft investigations.
- Analysing public records: This investigator job will be necessary when trying to locate missing individuals or when carrying out background checks.
- Crime scene investigations: Defence lawyers will often ask investigators to go through crime scenes to find evidence that law enforcement may have missed.
- Accident scene investigation: This kind of detective job can be requested by insurance companies when a claim is filed.
- Analysing accounting records: When carrying out due diligence, auditing a business or investigating missing funds, investigators can expect to do this at some point.
What Types Of Services Do Private Investigators In The Uk Provide?
In the UK, a standard private investigators job can include services such as:
- Tracing missing individuals or debtors
- Background checks for landlords, neighbours and employers
- Lie detector testing
- Vehicle tracking
- Surveillance of unfaithful spouses or dishonest employees etc.
In corporate circles, private investigators jobs can include:
- Due diligence before major business deals
- Auditing of finances
- Computer and mobile phone forensics
- Pre-employment background checks etc.
What Are The Characteristics Of A Private Investigator?
How can you tell if you have the right 'stuff' to do private detective jobs?
If you have certain traits, you could very well turn out to be good at private detective jobs.
These traits include:
- You're a natural problem solver
- You're determined and able to persevere despite any challenges you encounter during an investigation
- You're empathetic and like to help your clients solve their problems
- Patience, because some cases take longer to solve than others.
- You're confident and outgoing - this is a useful trait if you are doing more than just going through paperwork or searching the internet
- Honesty and dependability - Being dishonest can void any evidence you collect in court
- Discrete - Your clients will want much of the information you uncover to be kept under wraps
- Tactful - You have to handle things in a certain way because things can change drastically during an investigation etc.