Pros
My first manager was down to earth, offered a positive reinforcement style of managing, and was knowledgeable about the field. A fantastic mentor overall. Every day at work was different from the last, even if it's the same case. Some occasions can be exciting! Entry level position Objective work in nature, hit record and see if the subject helps or hurts their case.
Cons
The good manager left and the replacement manager was awful, which is why I left the company. He was disrespectful (cursed another PI in the first conversation I had with him) and micromanaged. He would reprimand daily about losses and push for doing illegal/unsafe practices in a read between the lines type of conversations (running red lights, intimidation (staying on the subject when burned), working a file the next day after the previous PI was burned the day prior… etc. He also liked to use the “progressive trick”. This is where you impersonate the subject and enter their personal information into Progressive’s website for a quote. During the quote process Progressive will share vehicle information that is registered to the address used. CIs contract states as well as local laws, not to carry a firearm while on duty. Many PI’s I worked with bragged about their weapons they carried with them during work. Many PI’s I worked with falsified report writing. One way in particular was leaving the case and changing times. They would literally tell me they were changing times on their cameras to do this. Different hourly pay based upon what it's for. 18/hr for surveillance; 13/hr for commuting/report writing. Insurance and PTO are poor. Racked up copious mileage on personal vehicles. Their mileage reimbursement/contract paid $45/day (other investigators had different contracts, so make sure to negotiate). No schedule with the potential for long hours (up to 16hr days). They still door knock. District manager and direct manager argued with me that I should be preparing for cases but not logging time to do so. They expected me to work off the clock.