Private Investigator Career Assessment

2What is a Private Investigator?

You take a question a client needs answered and answer it with evidence. That means searching public and commercial records, locating people, verifying employment and backgrounds, interviewing people who may not want to talk to you, observing and documenting activity, photographing or video recording what you see, and writing it all into a report that is accurate enough to be read by a lawyer, an insurer, or a court. Most of the job is research, observation and writing. A large share of the investigative work in this state is done for insurance companies and workers’ compensation claims, which means a real part of it is surveillance — sitting in a vehicle watching someone, and going through what people have posted publicly on social media.

The Reality: Two honest things, and the second one matters more. First, be clear-eyed about what a lot of this work actually is. Much of the investigative work in North Dakota is done for insurance companies and on workers’ compensation claims, and a real part of that is surveillance — sitting in a vehicle for hours watching someone, photographing what they do, and reviewing what people have posted publicly on social media to check it against what they have reported. The purpose is to find fraud, and it does. It is also slower and far more tedious than it sounds, and it is not work everyone is comfortable doing. That is worth knowing about yourself before you put in 2,000 hours, not after. The rest of the job is records research and careful documentation, and the ability to write a clean, factual report is the skill that gets you hired and kept. Second, and this is the one nobody says out loud: North Dakota has roughly 60 of these jobs in the entire state. Not 60 openings a year. Sixty positions, total. The state projects that number to stay essentially flat through 2034. The pay is reasonable when you have one of those positions, but the high-earning investigative work — corporate, large-firm litigation support — is not in this state. Anyone who wants this career in North Dakota should go in knowing they are competing for a very small number of seats, and should ask whether they would move for it.

Your Responsibilities:

• Search public, court, and commercial records
• Locate people and verify addresses and employment
• Conduct background and pre-employment checks
• Interview people to obtain information
• Observe and document activity, often for insurance or workers’ compensation claims
• Review public social media to check it against what a claimant has reported
• Photograph or video record evidence
• Investigate losses, claims, and internal theft
• Write investigation and incident reports that will stand up to scrutiny
• Testify in legal proceedings when required
• Work within the law on privacy, recording, and trespass

The deliverable is a report somebody will rely on, so accuracy matters more than nerve.

3A Day in the Life

8:00 AM — Review the file. Clarify exactly what the client needs answered.

8:30 AM — Record research — court, property, and commercial databases.

10:30 AM — Phone calls to verify employment and an address.

12:00 PM — Lunch and write up what has been confirmed so far.

1:00 PM — Field work. Observe and document an activity claim.

3:30 PM — Interview a witness who agreed to talk.

4:30 PM — Write the report. Facts only, sources noted.

5:30 PM — Update the client on what is confirmed and what is still open.

Mostly research and writing, with field work in between. Hours are irregular, because some things can only be documented when they happen.

4Training in North Dakota

No school required. There is a real licence, and the route to it runs through a job you can start now. This is the part almost nobody knows, so here it is plainly. North Dakota has three separate credentials for investigative work, and they are governed by their own chapter of the state rules — not the same ladder as security guards. There are no classroom-hour requirements on the investigative side at all.

Training Pathways:

• Step one — registered employee of a detective agency. This is the entry point and it is genuinely a job you can start now. No exam, no experience, and no training hours are required. The agency that hires you submits your registration; you cannot register yourself. You work under the supervision of a licensed investigator.
• Step two — licensed private investigator. This requires 2,000 hours of investigative work as a registered employee of a detective agency — roughly a year of full-time work — plus passing an examination given by the state board. The exam has to be passed within the twelve months before you apply, so the order matters: get the hours, then sit the exam, then apply.
• Step three — detective agency licence. Only needed if you want to hire other people to do investigative work. It requires a currently licensed investigator as the qualifying agent and a $300,000 general liability certificate with errors and omissions coverage.
• Armed work is a separate add-on requiring 1,000 hours of investigative or security work plus the same firearms training required of armed security personnel.
• If you already have relevant experience, the board may waive some or all of the experience requirement based on out-of-state investigative or security work, law enforcement in any jurisdiction, military investigation, in-house investigative work, or relevant education. Important caveat: on the investigative side this is discretionary — the board decides. The automatic credit for military service applies to security officers, not to investigators. If you are a veteran or former law enforcement, ask the board what they will credit rather than assuming either answer.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

Before You Start: The state board requires you to be at least 18 and to hold a high school diploma or the equivalent, and it runs a state and nationwide criminal background check using mailed fingerprint cards. The conviction bar here is strict and specific, and it is covered in the next section because it is the single most common reason someone cannot take this route.

Tip: Most of these jobs need no school, so the cost of starting is not tuition — it is the things you need in the first month. Non-slip shoes, work clothes or a uniform, a way to get to work, and getting through the two or three weeks before the first paycheck arrives. Ask the employer first: many will supply a uniform, some give a shoe allowance, and some pay weekly rather than every two weeks, which matters a lot at the start. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like work clothes, boots, tools, or getting to work. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you start rather than after.

5Certification & Licensing

This is a licensed occupation. The route is clear, and the conviction bar is strict. Private investigation in North Dakota is regulated by the North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board. You can start as a registered agency employee with no exam and no experience, which is why this page sits in this area. But the background requirements are firmer here than in most licensed work, and anyone with a record should understand that before investing time in this path.

What the state requires:

• At least 18 years old and holding a high school diploma or the equivalent.
• A state and nationwide criminal background check, using fingerprint cards submitted by mail.
• The conviction bar: the rules exclude anyone convicted of any felony; any class A or B misdemeanour involving violence or intimidation, or involving controlled substances; any offence involving theft; or any other offence reportable to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. This is worth being clear about, because it works differently from some other fields — it is written as an exclusion rather than a case-by-case review. If you have a record and this career interests you, ask the board or a career counselor what applies to your specific situation before you commit time to it.
• Free of a mental condition that would interfere with providing services competently, and no conduct the board finds indicates bad moral character bearing on serving the public.
• A continuing duty to report any conviction to the board within 14 days.
• 2,000 hours as a registered agency employee plus a board examination for the individual investigator licence.
• No classroom instruction hours are required at any tier on the investigative side.

The Exams: The board gives the examination individually in Bismarck once your application requirements are met. The board does not publish the exam content and advises applicants to be thoroughly familiar with the current North Dakota statute and rules; it sells a study guide. If you fail the first attempt you may reapply to retest after 30 days. After a second or any subsequent failure there is a one-year waiting period, so the first two attempts are worth preparing for properly.

Cost: Be careful with fee figures here. The administrative rules, the state statute, and the board’s own website publish different amounts for the same items, and the board’s FAQ page is out of date. As a rough planning figure, the examination and individual licence together run in the low hundreds of dollars, employee registration and the background check are under about $120 combined, and the study guide is about $40. Call the board directly at 701-222-3063 for the current amounts before you budget anything, and ask a potential employer whether they cover registration costs.

Keeping It Current: The individual licence runs one year and expires September 30. Late fees apply monthly. There is no reciprocity with other states — an investigator licensed elsewhere still needs a North Dakota licence, though North Dakota residency is not required.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota Private Investigator Pay (May 2025):

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $15.73–$19.15/hour ($32,710–$39,840/year)
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $21.30/hour ($44,310/year)
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $24.25–$29.48/hour ($50,440–$61,320/year)

What that means: The North Dakota median of about $21.30 an hour is reasonable, but look at the top of the range rather than the middle. North Dakota’s ninetieth percentile of about $29.48 an hour sits below the national seventy-fifth percentile for this work. In plain terms: the well-paid investigative work — corporate, insurance defence, large-firm litigation support — is largely not in this state. If the upper end of this career is the goal, that is a conversation about relocating, not about staying and waiting.

Jobs in North Dakota: This is the number to pay attention to. North Dakota has only about 60 private investigator positions in the entire state, and the projection holds that roughly flat through 2034. The state shows about 7% growth, but 7% of 60 jobs is around four positions over ten years, and the state reports essentially no annual openings — a figure that reflects how small the occupation is rather than a literal claim that nobody is ever hired. Treat this as a very small field with occasional openings. Nationally the picture is different: about 43,600 positions growing faster than average, with roughly 3,900 openings a year. So the career is real; it is just thin in North Dakota.

Outlook: Small and flat in North Dakota. This is the most important thing on the page. A great deal of investigative work in this state is also done by people the law exempts from licensing altogether — attorneys and their legal staff, accident reconstructionists, fire investigators, auditors and accountants, collection agencies, reporters, and anyone working purely from public records. That means some of the work exists without the job title, which is worth knowing if the work interests you more than the label does.

Who Hires in ND: Detective and investigative agencies, law firms, insurance companies, retailers and large employers doing loss prevention and internal investigations, collection agencies, and background screening companies. Retail and administrative support services are the largest reported industries for this work.

Work Setting: Mostly an office or a vehicle. Irregular hours, including evenings and weekends, because some activity can only be documented when it occurs. Field work happens in all weather. A good deal of the job is at a computer.

Physical Demands: Low to moderate. Mostly sitting — at a desk or in a vehicle — with some walking and standing during field work. Long stretches of waiting are part of it.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 33-9021); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Registered Agency Employee — The entry point. No exam, no experience, no training hours required.

Path 2: Licensed Private Investigator — After 2,000 hours with an agency and the board examination.

Path 3: Armed Investigator — A separate add-on with its own hour and firearms training requirements.

Path 4: Detective Agency Owner — Requires a licensed qualifying agent and a $300,000 liability and E&O certificate.

Path 5: Insurance or Corporate Investigator — In-house investigative work, often better paid and steadier.

Path 6: Loss Prevention or Corporate Security — Far more positions than licensed PI work, and a realistic alternative.

Path 7: Records, Claims, or Compliance Research — Uses the same research and documentation skills without the licence.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• A clear, written route that genuinely exists — and almost nobody knows it
• The entry tier needs no exam, no experience, and no training hours
• The agency handles your registration paperwork
• No classroom instruction hours required at any tier
• Mostly research and writing, with low physical demand
• Varied work — few cases are the same
• The research and report-writing skills transfer into claims, compliance, and loss prevention

What's Hard:

• Only about 60 of these positions exist in all of North Dakota
• The upper pay end of this career is largely not in this state
• A high school diploma or equivalent is genuinely required
• The conviction bar is strict and written as an exclusion
• You cannot start on your own — the 2,000 hours must be with an agency
• Irregular hours, including evenings and weekends
• Long stretches of waiting and watching, which is more tedious than it sounds
• Much of the work is insurance and claims surveillance, which is tedious and not for everyone
• Published fee amounts disagree across official sources, so you have to call the board

Be Honest: Are you comfortable doing surveillance — sitting and watching someone for hours and photographing what they do? Can you write a factual report accurate enough for a lawyer to rely on? Are you patient enough for hours of records research and waiting? And given that there are about 60 of these positions in the whole state, would you be willing to move for this work, or do you need a career you can build here?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Private Investigator Assessment Results