Gillymonkey

Hi,
I was offered a job in a retail department store last week. As part of the offer I had to go and do a drug screen within 48 hours. I did this and have heard nothing back since. Is this normal? I was told I'd be called for orientation once they had the results.

I'm a bit concerned as it has now been over a week and I've heard nothing. Also, I wondered if the fact that I am fairly new to the US might cause some issues with them not being able to 'find' me?

I must admit I am a bit flabbergasted at the amount of pre-screening companies over here do; especially given this is an unskilled job!

ian-mstm

A drug screen? Yes.


Contrary to what the popular media would have you believe, a drug test takes time.

Ian

Michael

If you haven't been doing drugs for the past couple of weeks and they are doing the basic test, you don't have anything to worry about. If you did drugs within the last 6 months and they did a hair follicle test, then they might find out that you did drugs.

Primarily it is usually only the the low skilled jobs (primary retail and finance) that do drug screening. This is because many of the employees are paid minimum or near minimum wage and are tempted to steal to support their drug habit and where is a better place to steal from than a retail store or a bank. I have never heard of a company doing drug screening for high tech jobs in the Silicon Valley.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. They are probably just very busy and unfortunately hiring new employees is one of their lower priorities.

Gillymonkey

Thanks! I've never done any drugs or even smoked so I am not worried about failing the test, just thought it was odd that it was taking so long.

It's good in a way, I've just taken this job until I can get something more suited to my skills so at least it is giving me time to go to other interviews.

fatbrit

They'll mess you about for ever and a week. They spend great resources on selecting low-paid employees, which they then turn over at a remarkable rate considering the investment they have already paid for.

My advice is to carry on applying for any job you fancy and not worry about it. Don't be at all surprised if one you applied for 6 months ago suddenly calls you out of the blue and tells you training starts tomorrow. If you've already taken a different job you're happy with, tell them to FOAD. If not, you're ready to go.
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Gillymonkey

Thanks, I come from a professional background so I am trying to break into my field over here. At least working part time will get me out of the house a bit until I am succesful getting something more suited to my previous experience.

avanutria

I had to do a drug test for an engineering internship at a utility company once. Nothing to steal there unless there was a thriving black market for gas meters...

Michael

As fatbrit indicates, don't worry about it and apply for other retail jobs. In the US, you don't have to give notice when you leave no matter what the company policy indicates. The worst a company can do if you don't give the required two weeks notice is to not pay you for any unused accumulated vacation and would open themselves up for a lawsuit if they told your new prospective employer that you didn't give notice. Not giving the required notice is not considered as anything other than leaving on good terms.

Michael

I said "primarily" and there is always an occasional oddball company.

Bink

It's actually quite common in the Offshore & O&G industry. We do, and I know many other companies that do too. We also do random drug testing throughout the year and again, we're far from alone in doing this. I think as far as industries go though, we're the exception to the rule due to the nature of the work that's done and the risks involved (whether working offshore or developing procedures for offshore work). I'm pretty certain it's a requirement of our insurance policy but I'd have to re-read the wording to be certain and I'd bet that we added it in, in order to reduce premiums.

Bluegrass Lass

I've been drug tested for my engineering positions. Out here in the Midwest, it's a pretty common practice. Not sure what that says about us Midwesterners, that employers feel the need to drug test us all.

Michael

I guess Silicon Valley is different but then most of the companies are really high tech (system, network, encryption, router, and embedded type programming, google/facebook type developers, or hardware chip developers). And who likes to work for high tech companies? Nerds. And you don't need to test nerds.

Bluegrass Lass

Are you a nerd Michael? If not, then I would say that you are a bit mistaken on our, uh, pasttimes. I've known more nerds that smoke weed and drink than any other group of people!

Michael

I definitely was. Before I retired, work was one of the top two things I enjoyed in life and used to spend 10 hours a day at work and more often than not, at least one day per weekend. My marriages didn't last too long.

Gillymonkey

It's good to know it is common practice for drug screening/background checks to take a while. Retail isn't my field, it's just something to do until I can get a job in silicon valley (good to hear it's not normal to get drug screens there!). Here's hoping I will get a 'proper' offer soon.