Lets say:
-you've used illegal drugs in the past
-you are filling out a background check for a government job
-they ask you about past drug use
-you know you can pass a piss or hair test

Would you report any drug use on the test??
I know this seems obvious, but I guess I'm wondering how sneaky these people will be -- is it worse to get caught in a lie?

Hell yeah the answer is obvious, did you become a new member just to post that question? Of course you don't tell them!

Getting caught lieing will just throw the chances that you have at it away. They rather have someone who has used drugs instead of used drugs, and lies.

This depends on the job you are applying for and the clearance you till be given, as well as the extent of your drug use.

While you may be able to pass a test now, if in the future you want to pursue an avenue with this government job that requires more thorough screening you may find yourself caught in your lie and screwed out of your job as well as your freedom, since lying about this sort of thing is a federal offense.

Background checks are usually done by asking you for the names of people that can be interviewed about your history and reliability, maybe your parents and other family members. If they tell the story the investigators want to hear, the investigators will ask them for four or five names and follow up with them, then ask those people for more names, and so on...depending on the level of scrutiny you will need.

Jobs with corporations that work with government security clearances (defense industry firms like McDonell-Douglas and technology developers like TRW) will be more lax when it comes to overlooking drug use, but a good rule of thumb is to deny ALL use of hallucinogens, since these disqualify you for pretty much any job in any screened field. LSD, psylocibin, and extasy are seen as disqualifiers by the military at the lowest level (enlistment) so you shouldn't admit to them unless you don't want to get hired. I have friends who have done just about every drug imaginable and then went on to become Force Recon Marines and TRW engineers, but they didn't do it by admitting their drug usage.

It all depends on your deniability and that of potential interviewees, and the level of scrutiny you will be placed under.

Good luck.

Did you ever get into legal trouble for drug use? If you did, then you better admit it regardless of your age when it happened. I was a recruiter for the USMC and we had accesss to juvenile records that were supposedly "sealed" after the people turned 18. If you didn't get into legal trouble, then don't worry about it.

I had a top secret clearance and they interviewed every reference that I provided. So just watch who's numbers you put down.

They also do credit checks which screw over alot of people. Military personel are given a little bit of slack on the credit, but civilians are looked at somewhat harder.

LSD isn't necessarily a permanent disqualification for the military, use within the last 2 or 3 years is temporary disqualifying. Habitual and experimental use are also important to remember. They'll most likely ask about the number of times that you used any drug. If you do admit to drug use, admit to a small number like 10-40 times and you should be ok. Don't tell them that you smoked pot every day for 4 years or they'll want to see records from a treatment facility.

this is probably gonna get some shit for it, but is there anywhere i can look online for a free background check? i really wanna see what mine says ( i have been in trouble before, BIG trouble ) and i am wanting to see if it shows up. also noting that i am a juvenile, and from what i hear, background checks only go from adult and up, and that if you are a judicated felon ( i am ) it wont show up. any truth to this?

Dm

Convictions as a minor are not public record, but government agencies(atleast military) can still see them.

You can probably do a back ground check on yourself. Most of the stuff is public record. The easier way would be to hire a private investigator to do one for you. They know how to get ahold of everything and interpret it. There are online checks that will tell a suprising amount about you, but a pi would probably be alot more in depth. The downside would be the cost.

I know a PI that works in southern california and does nothing but background investigations on the indian casino employees. He usually finds stuff that happened 10 or more years before, so any little lie on their part gets uncovered.

What kind of government job is this? Department of Justice? If you yourself know that you've never been convicted, or warned, or any of your personal information stored and kept on file for reference, just lie.

I'll give you an example. Me and this other dude were hired for an auditing appreticeship. We go to companies via a company car and audit their payrolls to figure out workers comp rates, for claiming purposes. When we were hired we both were asked if we had any driving tickets. I told the truth and said I took care of them and went to traffic school. No problem on my side, obviously. The other dude lied and two weeks later, without notice, he was fired.

What is so interesting about your situation is the fact that it's a government job. So if you get caught lying, whether you apply at the FBI or the post office, it will come back to haunt you..

Thanks for some very good replies! Just as follow up... the job I am taking is classified as 'non-sensitive', which I figure means that the background check will be less extensive than for 'sensitive' positions.
I have to say...worrying about this kind of shit is one of the big downsides of moving from college life to work life!

Non sensitive means that they won't tell you anything that would be of intrest to anyone.