Private Investigator Licensing

In order to work as a private investigator you have two choices: you can work for a private investigation agency or you can work for yourself until you gain enough experience and money to obtain your own private investigator license.

Taking the PI courses

The main goal in you career should be to attain private investigator licensing. Throughout almost all of the United States it is required that you obtain your license in order to practice as a PI. It is not complicated at all, to get you own license the only thing you have to do is take a couple of courses. There are lots of schools where you can choose from different types of programs, from full-time to long distance learning to online. The average time for acquiring your private investigator licensing is about three months.

When you go to PI school, you shouldn't worry if you have zero experience in this area. You will meet lots of students like you, as well as seasoned professionals who will impart their valuable knowledge onto you. They will share their experience, and you will have the opportunity to ‘apprentice’ with them on real PI cases that they are working on for ‘in field experience’. This is by far the best way to learn something new and you will usually be paid for your time, which means you can make some extra cash while getting your private investigator licensing.

The courses are divided into 4-7 main chapters, depending on the school. The main things that you will learn are the surveillance techniques, ways to locate and recover stolen or lost property, ways to locate missing persons, interviewing techniques, tips for determining the responsibility of damage, loss, fire, accident or injury to a person or to property.

Getting the license

After finishing the courses you will get your private detectives license. Are you asking yourself what is the deference between a private detective and a private investigator? Well, there is no difference, but most of the states use the term investigator while few states use the term detective.

Private investigator licensing is not ALWAYS necessary. For example, if just want to help your family to find people, who have done them wrong, there are means to do this online, that don't involve having a private investigators license.

Getting a job

Approximately 25 percent of the private investigators work for themselves and the rest usually end up working for the various agencies. Getting a job with an agency will mean more security as you are guaranteed a paycheck month to month, but the payoff is small. Whereas owning your own agency has a higher level or risk associated (and more upfront cost) but the payoff is far greater!