1L Summer Job - Drug Tests Forum

[20160810]

CA PD offices (at least Marin and San Diego) don't test

If Marin County PD drug tested, they'd find themselves without a single staff member.

[Anonymous User]

On a related note, how would a firm look upon someone that got a club card when they were younger? I presume it could easily be found out.. (talking only within California here)

[Anonymous User]

My firm didn't test. Gov't jobs test. In-house positions (from my small sample of friends who did that) test.

FWIW my govt agency does not test.

[ilovesf]

My firm didn't test. Gov't jobs test. In-house positions (from my small sample of friends who did that) test.

FWIW my govt agency does not test.

what agency?

[deebs]

katt williams doesn't seem to mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSw75zU9lcE

you take 12 aspirin, that will be the last headache you ever had

also, marijuana is illegal because the hemp industry was threatening the paper mills back in the day. and an ex-cia or some other agency director wrote a book and said that they invented crack and first distributed it. hth

[Anonymous User]

Everyone will tell you to chill and I'm sure you're fine too but remember that if you do want to work fed gov again there is a large chance of a polygraph down the line. I'm not trying to scare you but you should definitely do some research beyond the forum and possibly meet with your dean of students.

just clench your buttcheeks randomly throughout the whole thing

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

Everyone will tell you to chill and I'm sure you're fine too but remember that if you do want to work fed gov again there is a large chance of a polygraph down the line. I'm not trying to scare you but you should definitely do some research beyond the forum and possibly meet with your dean of students.

just clench your buttcheeks randomly throughout the whole thing

You are only going to be polygraphed with a top secret security clearance. I am not sure how many people or positions within the DOJ require top secret, but I imagine it is cannot be that many, at least for lower level positions. I could be wrong, though.

[Anonymous User]

Would anyone who worked at the US Attorney's Office or Public Defender's know the approximate date of the drug tests they would give?

[wcarlwilson]

My guess is the big firms do not test. If they did I think it would be all over this forum. I also think that the firms would give a heads up--they aren't dumb they know that pot is widely used. Also if they tested their attorneys there would be so much coke and weed found their would be no attorneys employable. If they advertise a drug free work place then you may need to look around. Last a lot of employers will put employment is conditional on passing of drug test--if they did drug test.

I don't know about government.

I do know about corprate, espcially the oil and gas industry. If you take an in-house corprate, you need to be prepared for a drug test and that includes HAIR. Yes they will test your hair. They will take about inch and half; it holds about the past 90 days. Don't think about shaving your head; they will take it from your arm pit. Don't think about shaving your body (not only will it be a read flag) they will say untestable and therefor un employable.

If you are worried about your company look on the website and try to "apply" for some open job you are likely to find some disclosure about drug testing. Last you can try going to marijuana.com (or other websites) and serch their drug test forums--you can find notes about a lot of companies drug testing and weather they do urian and/or hair.

So if you have a corprate gig you might want to stop using now, drink a lot of water, exercise and get a hair cut every month.

If you do not-for-profit well toke up.

[Anonymous User]

I have an offer for a DOJ branch for my 1L summer job. I have to fill out the SF-85 application form, which asks about drug use in the past year.

However, I also have to fill out an "illegal drug use questionnaire", which asks if I am now using OR have ever used any illegal substance. It asks for the first and last time I used drugs, which drugs they were, how often I used them, whether I had treatment for drug use, etc.

It's pretty intimidating that it's just a separate form solely about illegal drug use. Outside of 1 year in the past, does it seem like this means an automatic DQ if I, say, smoked weed once or twice in the beginning of undergrad (~4-5 years ago)?

[Anonymous User]

I have an offer for a DOJ branch for my 1L summer job. I have to fill out the SF-85 application form, which asks about drug use in the past year.

However, I also have to fill out an "illegal drug use questionnaire", which asks if I am now using OR have ever used any illegal substance. It asks for the first and last time I used drugs, which drugs they were, how often I used them, whether I had treatment for drug use, etc.

It's pretty intimidating that it's just a separate form solely about illegal drug use. Outside of 1 year in the past, does it seem like this means an automatic DQ if I, say, smoked weed once or twice in the beginning of undergrad (~4-5 years ago)?

Can' t speak for DOJ attorney policy, but I know for a fact that their LEOs are allowed youthful experimentation, that includes DEA and FBI. You can draw your own inferences.

[Anonymous User]

I have an offer for a DOJ branch for my 1L summer job. I have to fill out the SF-85 application form, which asks about drug use in the past year.

However, I also have to fill out an "illegal drug use questionnaire", which asks if I am now using OR have ever used any illegal substance. It asks for the first and last time I used drugs, which drugs they were, how often I used them, whether I had treatment for drug use, etc.

It's pretty intimidating that it's just a separate form solely about illegal drug use. Outside of 1 year in the past, does it seem like this means an automatic DQ if I, say, smoked weed once or twice in the beginning of undergrad (~4-5 years ago)?

Can' t speak for DOJ attorney policy, but I know for a fact that their LEOs are allowed youthful experimentation, that includes DEA and FBI. You can draw your own inferences.

Can anyone else speak to this? I'd just like to have a clue ASAP, so I can start looking for another summer job if need be..

[Anonymous User]

They aren't going to hook you up to a polygraph, dude. Just lie. This reminds me of what my Marine OSO said after I told him I'd smoked some: "Let me ask you again, and this time tell me the correct answer: Have you ever used illegal drugs?"

[bartlettpear]

as someone who has experience with natsec recruiting process the biggest issue one faces is the polygraph (and its lack of accuracy) when it comes to past drug use.

If you are applying/interning at an agency that does not polygraph, then it doesn't matter. I.E. even for agencies that require TS clearances with SSBI, if your pot habit (even if it is frequent) is not something that you share with too many people, then the investigators will not find out. blaze away in this case but be smart about it.

I've had to give urine and blood (no hair) for IC recruiting so as long you stay relatively clean prior to sample submission it won't show up.

Most gov positions won't even require SF86, let alone what i've described that pertains to jobs in the IC.

The poly on the other hand, can ding you even if you are clean and telling the truth to all of the yes/no questions. It is a very blunt tool that is used as a prop to coerce answers but is very bad at pinpointing issues. Unless you have sociopathic ability to compartmentalize, they will get you with a 'inconclusive/unclean' poly even if you don't 'mess up' on the drug use question(s) perse. So fellow blazers, steer clear of jobs that require poly.

It's tough being on the box for 3-4 hrs in a little 10x10 windowless room painted in a drab institutional white.

Doing it over again, I would not apply to any agencies that required poly for FT employment because you get polyed every 5 years (sometimes more often) and putting your career at the hands of a extremely inaccurate test that you have no control over is asinine.

If you want to work in IR type places in the gov, go to State. They don't poly.

[bartlettpear]

Everyone will tell you to chill and I'm sure you're fine too but remember that if you do want to work fed gov again there is a large chance of a polygraph down the line. I'm not trying to scare you but you should definitely do some research beyond the forum and possibly meet with your dean of students.

just clench your buttcheeks randomly throughout the whole thing

yeah, poor advice, slick.

[JenDarby]

I've never in my life had a drug test be administered by an employer. As far as my law school career goes, this includes a mid sized firm (80 attorneys) and a federal judicial internship.

[gdane]

They aren't going to hook you up to a polygraph, dude. Just lie. This reminds me of what my Marine OSO said after I told him I'd smoked some: "Let me ask you again, and this time tell me the correct answer: Have you ever used illegal drugs?"

Haha. This made me laugh.

[guano]

Everyone will tell you to chill and I'm sure you're fine too but remember that if you do want to work fed gov again there is a large chance of a polygraph down the line. I'm not trying to scare you but you should definitely do some research beyond the forum and possibly meet with your dean of students.

just clench your buttcheeks randomly throughout the whole thing

That doesn't work. There are legit ways cheat a poly, but for most of those, while they can't tell you're lying, they can tell something is up (your results are too steady/unnatural). There's a reason they preface by asking you a blatant lie.

The only effective way to truly pass a poly is to sincerely believe you're telling the truth, or to put it more succinctly:

“Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.”

[Anonymous User]

For anyone who has been drug tested for a legal job, were you told ahead of time (i.e. around the time you were hired) or around the time you started working?

[Pete Venkman]

I had to take one for my in-house internship. It even included a tobacco test, lulz.

Did they notify you beforehand they were drug testing you, or notify you the day you started?

How about you just go ahead and stop doing drugs.

Stop being a moralistic bitch.

this.

[paratactical]

FWIW, neither of the two biglaw firms I worked at ever drug tested anybody and nobody I know working at any other big firm has ever been drug tested, to my knowledge.

[Anonymous User]

For a law student USAO gig, it's highly unlikely they will actually drug test you. They'll ask you about drug use in the forms, but I didn't get drug tested and I don't know anyone who has. (Obviously that leaves room for error - maybe some offices do do this? - but it's not universal.)

(If you're talking about a permanent gig, my bad - I was going off the thread title.)

question about 1L summer internships: at independent agencies, they conduct a background check. this would include a drug test, right? more important question: around when, relative to the start date, are such drug tests usually administered?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if California public defender's offices test? San Diego? Orange County? Los Angeles? Riverside? I've heard that San Diego does from someone who works in the office, but read previously here that they do not. So what about the other offices?

[JenDarby]

My in house position (investment bank) makes everyone, even temps, take a urine test. There's no hair test, and no one I know who has been or is in corporate in house has had to do more than a urine test.