Last updated : December 23, 2024
If you’re looking for a job in the Milwaukee area, you need to understand that a growing number of employers are making drug tests mandatory for all job applicants. In the past, higher level jobs were the only types of employment where a person might be required to undergo drug testing. Today, jobs at all pay levels are using drug testing to ensure that a potential or existing employee isn’t using illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine as well as many others.
While there are many different types of drug testing available to employers, such as saliva, hair, blood and the perspiration tests, the most widely used test the urine test. However, there are several different urine tests that are used in order to detect drugs in a person’s system. Here are a few of the different urine test that may be used.
The EMIT
The Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Test (EMIT) is the most common type of drug testing. This is mainly because it is both simple and affordable. This test employs the use of an enzyme to detect a residual drug signature in a person’s body.
One of the downsides to this sort of testing is that its failure rate can be quite high. While the University of North Carolina puts the accuracy rate of the EMIT test at 95 to 97 percent, in the UK, where this test is also frequently used, a reported failure rate of 4 percent to upwards to 34 percent is common.
In addition, this test has a very narrow spectrum of drugs it can test for and its results can be vague. This test only shows the presence of the five major drugs as established by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. These drugs are cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine, opiates and amphetamines. It’s also important to remember that this test only detects the drugs not the amount of a certain drug that is present in a body.
The GC-MS
The GC-MS test is a more detailed drug test where the urine is vaporized and this vapor creates what is known as spectral peaks. These peaks allow for a better idea of the various drugs that may be present and in what quantities the drugs exist within a person’s body.
This test is very accurate at 98 to 99 percent, but the downside of this test is that it is extremely expensive, mainly due to the cost of the equipment needed to properly conduct this type of drug test. Most employers that do a considerable amount of hiring will typically not use this type of testing because of its high cost.
The RIA
There is also the RIA or Radioimmunoassay. This test is quite similar to the EMIT only instead of using an enzyme for the detection of drugs, this test uses a radioactive isotope, in most cases iodine. This test is highly volatile, precise and expensive, and it is typically used for governments and the military.
The FPI
The Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay (FPI) is like the RIA is similar to the EMIT but it uses fluorescent compounds to detect antibodies of various drugs. While this is a very precise method of testing, it isn’t used very often in an employer drug testing process.
If you are looking for a job in Milwaukee the likelihood is that if you have to take a drug test, it will probably be an EMIT. This is important to know because with its suspect failure rate, if your test were to return positive for an illegal substance, you may have recourse to be retested for a potential false positive drug test result.
This may be more difficult as an applicant than it would be if you were an existing employee having to participate in random drug testing. If, however, you get what you believe is a false positive, you have recourse that may help get you the job that you want or help you to keep your current job as well.
