Detective Criminal Investigator Resume Example

Your resume structure should be as factual and no-nonsense as a criminal investigation. Keep your layout straightforward, with simple formatting and well-delineated blocks of content. Check the example on our detective and criminal investigator resume sample to see how you can structure your resume with content blocks containing the header, opening summary, skill keywords, work experience, and education section. Make sure to use well-defined headers that neatly section off each content block to allow readers to easily scan and identify for specific items.

Rather than a resume objective, instead, write a professional summary. But what’s the difference, you may ask? An objective statement describes what you’re seeking in your next job. A professional summary, however, describes the qualifications you bring to your next position.

Focus on your selling points, using bold, action-driven language to write three compelling sentences summarizing what makes you a great hire. This can be a combination of hard and soft skills, but should focus on what’s most desirable in the law enforcement job market. If you’re still struggling, give our resume builder a try to create your own personalized resume with a strong summary statement.

Even if you’re a hard-boiled detective, you still need to demonstrate soft skills. You’re often working with people who need managing through judicious application of skills in active listening, diplomacy, relationship-building, and interviewing. Showcase these skills by discussing how you used them to resolve problems or uncover information, including calling out accomplishments where your communication skills were instrumental in gathering information needed to close big cases or uncover major leads. For a few more ideas of soft skills valuable in law enforcement, review our detective and criminal investigator resume sample.

Whether you’re a licensed private investigator or have attained firearms certifications or other pivotal law enforcement training courses, you’ll want to spotlight them on your resume. Many times, these certifications can make the difference between an interview call or complete silence, when other candidates may have the same qualifications but fewer advanced certifications.

List your certifications in reverse chronological order, from newest to oldest, in your education section. Ensure you include dates and awarding institutions. Trim anything obsolete; older training often has little value in the modern job market.

While in many cases there’s no need to include references, for a detective and criminal investigator, it can help to prove your trustworthiness if you can provide references who are prominent in law enforcement. When you’re tasked with solving crimes, any law enforcement department or private investigative organization that hires you needs to know they can trust you.

Including two or three references can help with that, yet if those references push your resume from one page to two, then it’s safe to forego them and simply provide them later upon request. You want to keep your resume to one page, just like our detective and criminal investigator resume sample.