What each Workday application status actually means

Workday application status meaning in one minute

A Workday application status is the label an employer's Workday career site shows you on your Candidate Home page. It is a simplified summary of where your application sits. Behind it, recruiters see detailed stages such as review, interview, assessment and offer. Candidates see only the label, and the employer chooses how each stage is worded.

That is why the same word can mean different things at different companies. The University of Wisconsin–Madison's HR guide to its own Workday setup says candidates see 'Submitted' during the review stage, 'In Progress' for any other active stage such as interview or assessment, and 'Completed' on the Inactive tab once they are declined or the posting is cancelled.

So read the label as a rough direction, not a precise position. Active means you are still in. Inactive or Not Selected means you are not. Everything in between tells you less than it appears to.

Three real Workday setups, three sets of labels

Employers publish their own guides. Comparing three shows how much the wording varies.

Where to see your Workday job application status

Every employer runs its own Workday career site, so you sign in at that employer's site rather than at one central account. After signing in, open the Candidate Home page. Depending on the employer it may also be called My Applications. It lists your applications with their status, the requisition number and the date you applied, often split into active and inactive.

If you forget the password, use the reset option on that employer's own Workday sign-in page. Also check your inbox and spam folder for the confirmation email after you apply. Some employers email you when you are no longer being considered, but do not assume every status change triggers a message. Check the page itself.

Workday application status meanings

These are the labels candidates most often see. Treat any list, including this one, as a guide, because your employer's wording may differ.

Candidates see labels, not steps

In Progress meaning in Workday

In Progress is the most common Workday label and the least specific. At the City of Tucson it means the application was received and is under review. At the University of Washington it means HR is checking minimum qualifications and eligibility. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison it appears only after the review stage, once the application is in an interview, assessment or agreement stage.

Does In Progress mean you got past the first screen? Sometimes. Where the label appears from the moment you apply, it says nothing about screening. Where it replaces 'Submitted' after review, it does mean you moved on. You cannot tell which setup you are in from the label alone, so look for other signs, such as an email asking for your availability.

Application under review in Workday, and Under Consideration

Employers can word their statuses as they like, so you may see 'Under Review' or 'Under Consideration' on a Workday site. Both mean your application is still open and you have not been rejected. Neither promises an interview.

Several career guides rate Under Consideration as slightly stronger than In Progress, on the idea that a person has kept you in the running. That may hold at some employers. At others, Under Consideration is simply the name given to every active application. Take it as a mild positive and rely on real messages for decisions.

Why Workday says 'No Longer Under Consideration', sometimes overnight

Not Selected and No Longer Under Consideration both mean you are out of the running for that requisition. The City of Tucson's guide says Not Selected means the candidate is no longer under consideration. Which wording you see depends on the employer, not on the reason.

A change overnight usually has one of three causes. An automated screening question may have disqualified you, such as work authorization, location or a required license. A recruiter may have declined candidates in bulk after choosing finalists. Or the requisition closed because the role was filled or cancelled, which moves every remaining applicant at once.

None of these is a comment on your career. Re-check the posting's hard requirements against the answers you gave, because a knock-out answer is the one cause you can fix on your next application.

Why your Workday status does not update

Delays are normal. The usual reasons:

• Recruiters work in batches: They review applicants in groups, so a label can lag days or weeks behind what is happening.
• Labels follow stages, not steps: Screening calls and internal discussions do not change what you see.
• Employers show few labels: Several internal stages can map to one candidate-facing word, so progress looks identical.
• The posting is still open: An application can show In Progress long after the team has focused on other finalists.
• The requisition is frozen: At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, candidates keep the status they had when the requisition was frozen.

How long Workday reviews usually take

Workday sets no standard timeline, because each employer configures its own process. These are common ranges from candidate reports, not guarantees. If a status has not changed in about six weeks, the process has probably stalled or moved on, so keep applying.

How to follow up on a Workday application

One clear message to a person works better than checking the portal every day.

1. 1
   Check Candidate Home and your inbox

   Confirm the status on Candidate Home, then search your email and spam for messages from the employer's Workday address. Note the requisition number shown on your application.

2. 2
   Wait the right amount

   Give it about ten business days from applying, or five after an interview. Larger employers and universities are slower.

3. 3
   Write to a person, not the system

   Use the recruiter named in an earlier email, or the careers contact on the employer's site. Some HR help desks cannot see hiring decisions or more than you can see yourself, so ask for the recruiter or hiring team.

4. 4
   Send one short email, then one more

   Use the template below. If there is no reply, send one more note a week later, then move on to the next application.

A Workday follow-up email you can copy

Subject: Application status for [Job title], [REQ number]. Hi [Name], I applied for the [Job title] role (requisition [REQ number]) on [date], and my Workday status still shows [status]. Could you tell me whether the role is still open and whether my application is under review? I remain very interested and can send anything else you need. Thank you, [Your name]

Applying to many Workday employers

Workday sites are separate by employer, so every new company usually means a new account, a new password and the same long form. A password manager helps. On October 13, 2026 Workday announced a Candidate Profile that lets job seekers save their details once and reuse them across employers that hire through Workday. Workday says it expects general availability for Workday Recruiting customers in early calendar year 2027, so for now plan on separate accounts.

The JobTailor extension takes the typing out of Workday forms. It fills contact details, your resume file, cover letter, work authorization, dropdowns and screening answers from your Application profile. It never ticks consent boxes and never submits for you, so you review each page and press submit yourself. It can also tailor your resume to the job description first, with every change shown as a tracked change you accept or reject.

Then log each application with the employer, requisition number, date and the exact status wording, since every Workday site words things its own way. The free JobTailor job tracker keeps stages and notes in one place.

Frequently asked