Anyone work in Investigation?

[Merlin321]

I’m looking at retraining. I’m passionate about getting to the bottom of something, about being right. I’m logical and happiest following procedures for troubleshooting. Does anyone work in investigation. What would you recommend as a good way in.

I don’t really have any skills from the workplace other than troubleshooting. I was looking at a few OU options, but seems to be either the criminology side or the forensic science side. Would you recommend either of these and is a full degree worth it compared to 1 or 2 years (cheaper to self fund) as I already have a very unrelated degree. I have A level Maths, Chemistry and AS Biology (from 16 years ago) so happy on the scientific side with a bit of a study refresher, but it’s really the thinking outside the box to get round a problem that excites me so not sure if that puts the ‘people’ side as a more useful grounding.

I’m not sure I’d make a fantastic police officer dealing with Saturday night drunken twats, which seems to be touted as the main way in, but then read that there are also staff roles within the police force in investigative areas. I’m not tied to this area at all, but something that uses those skill sets. If you recruit in this area what skills and experience are you looking for and how much is it possible to get across a keenness to learn and a good attitude to work where you might lack in work specific experience, and be able to work up from somewhere, once in your mid-late 30s as opposed to a fresh teenager.

The police do employ civilian investigators, but you can also join the police via the DHEP (degree holders entry programme), direct entry as a detective.

Would you recommend a related degree for that? Mine is in Hospitality Management which whilst it features an amount of problem solving and negotiating, it really doesn’t stretch my brain which is what is motivating the change, and when I looked at a few applications, I really struggled to find examples to show the skills they wanted. Being a volunteer sports referee and being really good at escape rooms and murder mysteries is probably closer to the required skills than my day job, but I’m under no illusion that what I consider fun weekend activities isn’t really what the job entails on a day to day basis!

@Merlin321 you could probably get quite a lot out of the sports refereeing - communication skills, dealing with potentially confrontational situations etc.
But if you’re serious about this I would suggest you do some volunteering. For example being an appropriate adult would give you an insight into how investigations work to a certain extent, and you’d learn a lot about investigative interviewing. It would also show the recruiters that you were keen and committed, not just applying on a whim.
If you went the DHEP route it wouldn’t matter what degree you had, it’s just the graduate level skills they want, they’ll give you all the investigative training you need.

I'm a forensic accountant by training so mainly have done financial investigations into fraud, money laundering, bribery etc. Lots of banks recruit for those kind of staff too. Similarly, there's a part of the civil service that does a lot of investigations into fraud and bribery in the public sector called the PSFA and they recruit a bit.

Why are you doing a second degree at all? Have you looked at whether they'll accept your current degree?

I'm an ex Detective, moved into another government agency in an investigative role where the only requirement was a 2:1 degree minimum in any subject. I now work in another agency as an analyst.

You don't need to demonstrate prop investigative experience, it's more about transferable skills and ability to learn.

What about auditing, DWP fraud investigation, private investigation, journalism, child protection investigation, academic research, parliamentary researcher, charity policy officer, genealogist, market research (polling), etc?

This jumped out at me OP: “I’m passionate…about being right.” Lots of investigative roles aren’t about proving yourself right, they are about what you can prove with the available evidence.

Ombudsman services use investigators, but that's about fairness in all the circumstances - it isn't as black and white as right and wrong.

This.

And if you like science then there are roles in air accident investigations, companies that specialise in determining the cause of industrial accidents for insurance and legal purposes. Every manufacturing firm will have a quality team, part of whose role is to run quality investigations to work out what went wrong with X part.

@DownThePubWithStevieNicks it's not me right/others wrong, maybe should re-word to being confident/nailed down/satisfied in the answer. I like to leave no stone unturned as I'm very 'fact based'. I know sometimes you can't get to the bottom of something because there's nothing there but at least you can be confident with yourself that you looked for an answer there (answer can be either way) Does that make sense? I'd call it 'getting to the bottom of it'

Thanks to the posters who have come up with some other areas to look at too. I guess it's knowing what is out there. Causes of accidents sounds really interesting if that's what you do @Butterflyfern I bet there is always room for learning there too, with the mix of technical failure and human nature influences.

I think I was looking at related degrees and 're-training' so I could prove some theory behind it, because I think i'd find the study personally quite interesting/developmental (hence the question about if doing a full degree was worth it, or if doing say year 1 at the OU on the side 'for interest' would still be beneficial, or related short courses if there was anything generally looked for) and because it might also introduce me to some contacts or organisations I was not aware of.

Left of field suggestion- I have a similar skill set and thinking type.

I work in Operational Improvements for an investment bank. So basically my job is to map super complex processes, compare to rules and regulations and identify efficiencies and control gaps. The gigantic nature of the organisation means it's incredibly "investigative" to get to the bottom of it and I end up drawing gigantic process maps on walls etc. Then I get to apply some creative thinking to resolve problems. I also worked in hospitality before career changing.

It also happens to be very well paid without needing to live in London (lots of banks have regional hubs for back office operations) or work crazy hours compared to a lot of staff- I'm paid for the quality of my solutioning rather than volume of output etc!

A degree study costing you £10k/yr for the sake of interest is valid if you have the money to spend, but frankly would be a waste of time for most employers.

You'd do better to search civil service, police, council, banking jobs websitesanalytical, enforcement or investigation roles.

The sooner you get a foot in the door the better. Academia isn't required. I have a degree in criminology and I assure you that whilst Benthams theories on utilitarianism or Lombrosos theories on the "Criminal Man" and physiognomony or even the semester I spent on the Witch Trials in the 1500-1700s were very interesting, they have limited practical use to a Detective or an HMRC fraud investigator.

Far better to get into the role and learn on the job, plus take any courses you are offered.

Environment Agency have investigators for Waste enforcement, so largely investigating scrap dumps etc and that the are doing what they are supposed to.

They will also pay for any qualifications that you need