Detective Requirements

Undercover, trailing criminals, fighting the ones that go against the law. Well, let me tell you one thing. The job of a detective is not half as glorious as Hollywood makes it out to be. In fact, the job is one of the most dangerous, as he goes, pretty much head-on against dangerous criminals, all by himself. So understandably, detective agencies and the police will have set a long list of requirements, which you need to possess, should you ever aim to be one in the future.

What it Takes to be a Detective

So let me split this into education and the personal qualities that a detective ought to have. A job of this nature requires both personal and academic qualifications. Hence if you want to be a police or a private detective, both these types of requirements are necessary.

Educational Criteria
One needs to have completed high school. Depending on the nature of the job, you may also require to have a bachelor's degree in criminal and/or personal and/or civil rights. These educational qualities are important as the detective needs to know which law, the person he's trailing, might break. He also needs to have basic know-how of first aid.

A lot of professional detectives also know about criminal psychology, which helps them delve into the mind of the criminal and helps them anticipate his next move.

If you want to become a police detective, you need to complete a 4-year bachelor's program from a recognized university, preferably in criminology/psychology or some law. You will also need to undergo extensive police training, at the end of which, you need to have the basic fitness levels as prescribed by them. A detective's job can often be of a rigorously physical nature and hence he should be strong enough to be able to deal with any such threats.

Personal Criteria
Now I don't really know what were the educational qualifications of James Bond or Sherlock Holmes, but they possess a lot of personal qualities which helps them become very good detectives indeed.

The first thing that you need to have is a problem solving ability. Because to piece all the clues together and make some sense out of it, to know where to go and when and what to make out of a particular situation, you need to have a remarkably sharp brain. A detective also needs to be very brave and courageous. He encounters a lot of dangerous situations and hence it takes a man of a good amount of bravery, to be able to do that. He also needs to be able to disguise himself reasonably well and be a good actor. He will often find himself in a situation where he has to change his look and pretend to be someone else in order to get information out of someone. Lastly, a detective also needs to be very social and should be well-connected. Who knows which of your contact might supply the information you need!

Oh and yes, if you're really good at it, the job can be one of the highest paying jobs in the world. Other private agencies may lay down their own set of requirements as well, which they feel are important as part of the detective's job.