Workday Application Status Meanings (Full Glossary)

Your Workday status usually means exactly what it says, but the labels are vaguer than they look. "Under Consideration" means active and being reviewed, "In Progress" means your application moved into the pipeline, and "Not Selected" means rejected. The tricky part is that every employer configures Workday differently, so the same word can mean slightly different things depending on the company.

This glossary covers the statuses you'll actually see, what each one signals, and what (if anything) to do about it.

The short version

Here are the most common Workday statuses and what they typically mean.

The single most important thing to know: Workday only updates when a human moves you. A status that hasn't changed in three weeks doesn't mean anything went wrong — it usually means the recruiter hasn't gotten to the stack yet.

"Submitted," "Received," and "In Progress"

These are the entry-level statuses. "Submitted" or "Received" simply confirms Workday has your application on file. "In Progress" usually means it has entered the active requisition and is eligible for review, but no human has necessarily opened it yet.

None of these tell you anything about your fit. They're administrative checkpoints. If you submitted correctly and see one of these, you've done your part. For the mechanics of getting to this stage cleanly, see how to apply on Workday.

"Under Consideration" vs "Reviewed"

This is where people overthink things. "Under Consideration" means your application is active and in the review pool. It is genuinely neutral-to-mildly-positive: you haven't been cut, and you're being looked at or are queued to be. It is not an offer, an interview invite, or a promise.

"Reviewed" is more literal: a recruiter or hiring manager has actually opened your application. On its own it doesn't say whether they liked it. Some employers move you from "Reviewed" straight to an interview stage; others move you to "Not Selected." It's a milestone, not a verdict.

The two are easy to confuse because the difference is subtle. We break it down in detail in Workday "In Progress" vs "Under Consideration".

Interview and offer statuses

Once you reach "Interview," "In Interview," "Phone Screen," or similar, the labels become reassuringly clear. These mean you've advanced to an evaluation stage. The exact wording varies because each employer names its own stages in Workday.

"Offer" or "Offer Extended" is the one you want. It means an offer is being prepared or has been sent. Don't panic if it appears before you've gotten the call — recruiters often update the system and reach out separately, sometimes a day or two apart.

Rejection statuses: "Not Selected" and friends

The bluntest status is "Not Selected," which means you were rejected for this specific role. You may also see "No longer under consideration" or "Candidate is no longer being considered," which mean the same thing.

Two honest caveats:

• Not every rejection gets a status update. Many employers close requisitions without flipping your status, so you may stay on "Under Consideration" forever even though the role is filled. Silence is, unfortunately, a common form of rejection.
• Workday does not auto-reject based on keywords. Workday is an applicant tracking system — mostly a database and workflow tool for recruiters. It organizes and searches applications; it doesn't secretly score and discard you. Real humans make the cut decisions.

If you want the full picture on how Workday communicates rejections, read does Workday tell you if you've been rejected.

How to actually check your status

Workday isn't one website. Each employer runs its own Workday tenant, so you log in to that specific company's Candidate Home (the link usually came in your confirmation email). Once you're in:

• Open the role under "My Applications" or "Active Applications."
• The current stage shows next to the job title.
• "Withdraw" is also there if you want to pull out — covered in the how to apply guide.

Don't email the recruiter the day after applying to ask for an update. A polite follow-up after a week or two is fine; daily check-ins are not.

Workday vs other ATS labels

If you're applying broadly, you'll see the same concepts under different names across systems. The vocabulary differs, but the underlying stages are similar.

For the equivalents, see iCIMS application status meanings, Taleo's "Completed" status, and SmartRecruiters status meanings.

Stop refreshing, keep applying

The hardest truth about Workday statuses is that you can't control them, and reading tea leaves into a label that hasn't moved is a great way to lose a week. The best response to a stalled "Under Consideration" is usually to send a couple more strong applications elsewhere.

That's the slow part: every Workday tenant makes you re-enter the same work history, education, and EEO questions. JobRizzer is a Chrome extension that autofills those Workday fields (and other ATS forms) from your resume and, on Pro, tailors your resume to each role — you still review every field and submit yourself. It won't change a status, but it gives you back the hours so a quiet inbox stings a little less.

Decode the label, do what little you can, then move on to the next one.

Workday "In Progress" vs "Under Consideration": What's the Difference?

On Workday, "In Progress" means your application is moving through the company's hiring workflow, while "Under Consideration" means a human is actively reviewing it. In Progress is the broad, default state; Under Consideration is a more specific signal that someone has your file in front of them. Neither guarantees an interview, and the exact wording varies by employer.

If you're refreshing your candidate home and trying to decode these labels, here's what they actually mean and what to do next.

What "In Progress" means

"In Progress" is Workday's catch-all status for "this application exists and hasn't reached a final outcome yet." It can cover a lot of ground:

• Your application was submitted and is sitting in the queue
• A recruiter has opened it but hasn't made a decision
• It's been passed to a hiring manager
• You're between interview stages

Because it's so broad, "In Progress" tells you very little on its own. It mostly confirms you're still in the running and haven't been rejected. The downside: it can stay frozen for weeks, because Workday only updates when someone on the employer's side manually moves you to a new step.

One thing to double-check: if you started an application but never finished it, Workday may save it as a draft that also reads as "In Progress." Open it from your candidate home to confirm you actually clicked submit. (Our guide to applying on Workday walks through where to find this.)

What "Under Consideration" means

"Under Consideration" is narrower and generally more encouraging. It typically means a recruiter or hiring manager is actively evaluating your application, rather than it just sitting in a pile. Some Workday configurations show this status once you've been moved into a review stage; others use it as a general "we're looking at you" label.

It's a good sign, but read it carefully. "Under Consideration" is not the same as "selected for interview." It means you've cleared the initial filter enough to get human eyes on your file. From here you might advance, or you might be passed over. It's a step, not a finish line.

In Progress vs Under Consideration at a glance

The big caveat: Workday is configured by each employer, so the exact labels and what triggers them differ. One company's "Under Consideration" might be another's "In Review." Don't over-read a single word. For the full list of what you might see, check the Workday application status glossary.

Why your status isn't changing

The most common frustration with Workday is a status that never moves. This is normal, and here's why:

• Workday doesn't auto-update. A real person has to advance you to the next step. If the recruiter is busy or the role is on hold, your status sits still.
• Hiring runs in batches. Many teams review all applicants at once after the posting closes, so nothing changes for weeks, then everything moves at once.
• Employers control visibility. Some companies surface every step; others only ever show two or three statuses to candidates.

So a stale "In Progress" usually means "no decision yet," not "rejected." Workday often goes quiet rather than telling you bad news directly. For more on how rejections show up (or don't), see does Workday tell you if you've been rejected.

What you should actually do

Status-watching is a low-yield use of your energy. Here's a saner approach:

• Give it 1-2 weeks before reading anything into a frozen status.
• Follow up once, politely, if you have a recruiter contact and it's been a couple of weeks past any stated timeline.
• Don't withdraw or re-apply just because the status looks stuck. Re-applying rarely resets your position and can look disorganized.
• Keep applying elsewhere. The best response to status anxiety is more applications in the pipeline, not more refreshing.

Spend your time applying, not decoding labels

The honest truth is that "In Progress" and "Under Consideration" are weak signals. The thing that actually moves your odds is getting more strong applications out the door, each tailored to the role. That's the slow, tedious part: re-typing the same answers into Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, and Ashby forms over and over.

This is where JobRizzer helps. It autofills those job applications and tailors your resume to each posting, so you can apply to more roles without burning out on data entry. You still review every field and submit yourself, but the grunt work shrinks. If you're spending more time watching statuses than sending applications, that's the balance to flip.

In short: "In Progress" means you're in the system, "Under Consideration" means someone's reading you, and neither is worth losing sleep over. Keep your pipeline full and let the statuses sort themselves out.

Does Workday Tell You If You've Been Rejected? ("Not Selected" Explained)

Yes, Workday usually tells you when you've been rejected, most often by changing your application status to "Not Selected" and frequently by sending an automated rejection email. But "usually" is doing real work here: some employers update your portal silently, some never update it at all, and the timing is all over the map. Here's how to read every signal Workday gives you.

The short answer

If you log into a company's Workday candidate portal and see "Not Selected" next to a job, that means you've been rejected for that role. It's the most common way Workday communicates a no. The decision is final for that posting, and the status won't flip back to active.

You may also get an email. Many companies configure Workday to send an automatic note when they reject you, usually some version of "we've decided to move forward with other candidates." If you get that email, your portal status will typically read Not Selected too.

The catch: Workday is just software the employer configures. Whether you're notified, and how fast, depends entirely on the company's settings and recruiter habits, not on Workday itself.

What "Not Selected" actually means

"Not Selected" is Workday's standard rejection label. It applies whether you were screened out in the first 10 minutes or made it to a final interview. The status doesn't tell you how far you got or why you were passed over.

A few things to know:

• It is final for that specific job. A different opening at the same company is a fresh application with its own status.
• It does not mean you're blacklisted. You can apply to other roles at the same employer.
• It usually appears under a heading like "My Applications" or in a status column, sometimes with a date.

For the full list of what every label means, see the Workday application status meanings glossary.

The statuses that are NOT a rejection

This is where people panic unnecessarily. Plenty of Workday statuses look ominous but simply mean "still in the system." Don't read a rejection into these:

The two that confuse people most are "In Progress" and "Under Consideration." Neither is bad news. If you're stuck on those, the difference is worth understanding: In Progress vs Under Consideration.

When Workday tells you nothing

Here's the frustrating reality. A large share of Workday applications never get a clear rejection at all. The status sits on "In Progress" or "Under Review" indefinitely, the email never arrives, and the job quietly disappears from the listings. This is sometimes called the "black hole," and it's an employer process gap, not a Workday bug.

Signs you've likely been passed over even without a "Not Selected":

• The job posting is taken down or marked filled, but your status never changed.
• Several weeks pass with zero movement after you know the role was active.
• You see "Position Closed" or "No Longer Under Consideration" instead of an explicit rejection.

In these cases, no news is rarely good news after a long silence. It's fair to assume you're out and keep your energy on new applications.

How long until you see a rejection

There's no standard timeline, and that's the honest answer. Some patterns hold:

• Fast auto-rejections (a few days) usually mean an automated screen filtered you on a knockout question, like work authorization or a required certification.
• Mid-cycle rejections (1-3 weeks) typically come after a recruiter or hiring manager reviewed the shortlist.
• Late or never is common for roles that get paused, re-scoped, or filled internally.

If it's been more than two to three weeks with no movement, a short, polite follow-up to the recruiter is reasonable. Just don't expect the portal status to be your only source of truth.

What to do after a "Not Selected"

A rejection on one role isn't a verdict on you. Two practical moves:

1. Keep applying at the same company. Not Selected closes one door, not the building. New reqs open constantly, and recruiters often re-source past applicants.
2. Tighten your next applications. If you're getting fast auto-rejections, your resume may not be clearly matching the role's stated requirements. Make sure your titles, skills, and keywords reflect the actual posting (honestly, no white-text tricks).

Workday's repetitive forms make reapplying a slog, which is exactly where JobRizzer helps: it autofills the Workday application for you and, on Pro, tailors your resume to each posting so your relevant experience surfaces clearly. You still review every field and submit yourself, but you skip the 20 minutes of retyping. (If you're new to the platform, our guide to applying on Workday covers the basics.)

Workday vs other systems

If you apply across several systems, the rejection language differs. iCIMS, for example, often uses "Reviewed, Not Selected", while Taleo's labels work differently again. Don't assume the wording maps one-to-one between platforms.

The bottom line: a "Not Selected" in Workday is a genuine rejection for that role, final but not personal. Anything short of it, In Progress, Under Consideration, Reviewed, just means you're still in the running or waiting. And a long, total silence usually means it's time to move on.