I have recently finished my latest year of college and am planning on taking an entry level (minimum wage) job for the summer to build up some cash. At the end of finals I was offered a joint in celebration and elected to smoke some of it. My college is in a state where recreational marijuana use is legal but not permitted at the workplace. Smoking marijuana isn't something I have done before or plan to do again. I had not been expecting to need to take a drug test, and in fact had not considered it at all.
I've since learned that the job I have applied for has in the past chosen to drug test some, but not all, of its applicants. After some research on the internet I believe that I have decent odds of failing this test.
At this point I'm left with two options (that I can see). When asked to take the drug test I either:
- tell them up front
- admit if confronted after
As an employer which would you prefer? If an employee were to admit to having used a drug once but swore that they hadn't used before and wouldn't use again, and volunteered to take as many drug tests as required in the future, would you hire them? Why or why not? If you have another take or opinion on what could or should be done I welcome that as well.
Note: I'm not looking for condemnations of my decision to smoke - I understand that actions have consequences and I'm fully prepared to face the consequences of mine. I'm also not looking to find a way to cheat or get out of the drug test - if that is what I wanted to do the internet has already provided many options. I just want to know what you, as an employer, would do in reaction to the two scenarios.