Employers

Approximately 15,500 bail bondsmen are members of Professional Bail Agents of the United States. Bail bondsmen usually work for other bondsmen or own their own small businesses. Many bondsmen join together to form a partnership to share the workload and to pool their resources. Established bondsmen usually hire several young bondsmen to do the background checking and research. Although almost all towns and cities have bail bondsmen at work, most bondsmen are in large towns and cities. The larger the population, the greater the opportunity for crime and the greater the number of crimes committed, which means the greater the need for bail bonds to be posted.

Starting Out

You probably won't see as many ads on employment Web sites and in newspaper classified sections for bondsmen as you do for administrative assistants, but keep an eye out anyway—especially in the big city newspapers. If you want a more direct approach, call your local police for some recommendations of experienced bondsmen that you can contact to inquire about a job. Before becoming a bondsman, get your feet wet by doing background checks, chasing down leads, and handling paperwork. If work as a bondsman isn't immediately available, start out in related jobs, such as security positions. Many bail agents also start out in the insurance business, learning such things as risk assessment and how to underwrite bonds.

A bail bondsman can remain an independent agent, owning his or her own business, or can advance to managerial positions with a managing general agent. In a partnership, a bondsman can advance to become the supervising bondsman, assigning work to more inexperienced bondsmen. There are various jobs that relate to the work of bail bondsmen, such as property and casualty insurance agent, detective, and the court system jobs of pretrial release officer, release on recognizance worker, and probation officer.

Join Professional Bail Agents of the United States to access training and networking resources, industry publications, and employment opportunities.

Visit https://www.pbus.com/ for a list of bail associations in select states.

Land an entry-level job at a a bail bonding company to learn about the field, gain experience, and make valuable industry contacts.