So you think it's over? You worked hard in school, made Career Services your best friend, perfected your resume until you had it memorized and dedicated 10 weeks of your life to corporate recruiting. Maybe you feel the urge to relax in your favorite chair, kick off your shoes, have an ice-cold lemonade (or vodka tonic, pick your poison), and smoke a - not so fast! Smoking marijuana could, in some cases, cost you that internship you worked so hard to get.
When you fill out a job application, you are aware of the information you're asked to provide. But maybe you missed the fine print. We are living in the information age, and suddenly things like Facebook-ing a job candidate or required drug-tests are becoming more and more commonplace. Sometimes the notification of drug testing is included in the small type at the bottom of the employment contract that we all tend to skim over. Sometimes it's not included at all.
Employee drug testing is a hot topic among young people, partially due to the ambiguity surrounding the subject. Some companies, as say, oh, the Central Intelligence Agency, clearly state their drug policy.
A CIA official explained.
"Drug screening is one component of conducting background investigations into prospective CIA employees," he said. "Polygraph examinations are used in addition to the urine test".
Not all companies, however, are as clear as our friends over at Intelligence. For this reason, there are myths about who tests and who doesn't, purported "tricks" to beating the drug test and myths about which tricks work and which don't. Of course, you could just abstain from drugs.
Some government agencies have different methods to prevent employees from using drugs, but never actually administer a drug test. One junior had such an experience with the State Department,
"I never actually had a test. I was just asked about drugs, and I was completely honest and told them that I had smoked weed before, but I had quit long before I started the job so it wasn't an issue. I just had to sign a contract saying that I would not do drugs while working there or I would lose my job," he said. "I could have been randomly tested but never was."
Many of the larger, prestigious financial companies have drug tests, of which the applicants are informed only after they have accepted a job. The New York Stock Exchange, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers all use pre-employment drug tests.
Jessica Lehmann '07 was drug tested before her summer internship at JP Morgan.
"The first time, I had my hand in between my legs holding the cup and I got stage fright - I couldn't do it! My male friend was standing outside in the waiting room, so I felt pressured," she said. "The second time, I had to go to a rather dodgy area of New York City and I swear everyone else there was a former convict or something. But in the end, it was fine".
But there are ways to have your cake and eat it too. One junior who is working for an investment bank this summer is actually getting drug tested today, 420.
"I'm not complaining," she said "I'll have it over with, and then I can have some fun!"
It's not just i-banks or government agencies that require drug tests. Some less glitzy businesses - from shoe stores to Starbucks to supermarkets - require drug screening.
One junior was tested for her high school job.
"I had to have a drug test just to work at a grocery store. It was one of the scariest experiences ever. They sent me to this ramshackle clinic and when the manager went through the results everyone else had failed but me," she said. "It was weird. The national company held drug-free workplace standards and evidently it really hurt them in trying to hire a full staff of cashiers."
The moral of the story is, drug tests happen, leaving two choices: cross your fingers and hope you won't get tested or abstain from drugs altogether during your working career. Or you could just move to Amsterdam and avoid the whole problem altogether. Ja?
