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Workday application status meanings: what In Progress really tells you
By Mehek Mandal · Updated
Workday application statuses are labels each employer chooses, so the same word can mean different things at different companies. Workday's own course for employer administrators gives the key example: instead of showing Review, Screen or Interview, an employer can have all of those stages display as In Progress to candidates. So In Progress tells you your application is still open. It does not tell you where it is.
Why Workday statuses are vague.
Behind every Workday application is a series of hiring stages the employer sets up, such as review, screen, interview and offer. Employers decide what candidates see for each stage. Workday's administrator documentation describes an external label for exactly this, with In Progress shown in place of the internal stage name.
Each employer also runs its own Workday career site, so a status on one company's site says nothing about your applications anywhere else.
What each common status tells you.
Read these as the most you can safely conclude. The employer's own emails outrank any label.
- Application Received or Submitted: the employer's site has your application. Nobody may have read it yet.
- In Progress, In Process or Under Review: the application is open. It could be waiting for a first look, being screened, or further along.
- Under Consideration: open, in the employer's words. Workday does not publish one meaning for it across employers.
- Interview, Assessment or a named task: a real next step. Look for an email or a task in your account on that employer's site.
- No Longer Under Consideration, Not Selected or Rejected: closed for that role. You can still apply to other roles at the company.
- Withdrawn: the application was withdrawn, by you or the employer, and is closed.
Where to check your status.
Sign in to the career site of the company you applied to. Workday calls the candidate area Candidate Home. Your applications there are listed with their current status.
If you see nothing, check the company name in the web address. You may be signed in to a different employer's Workday site, where that application does not exist.
How long an application can stay In Progress.
There is no Workday-wide timer. A role can stay open while the employer interviews other people, waits on approvals or pauses hiring, and the label will not change.
Do not apply to the same role again to move it along. A second application to the same posting can create a duplicate, and the first one is still there. If it has been a while, a short note to the recruiter is the better nudge, and meanwhile keep applying elsewhere.
Withdrawing an application.
If the employer allows it, a Withdraw button appears beside the application in Candidate Home. Workday's documentation says the button does not display at a stage where the employer has not set up candidate withdrawal. In that case, contact the employer's recruiting team.
Keep your own record.
Candidate Home only shows one employer at a time. With twenty applications on twenty Workday sites, a list of your own is the only full picture: company, role, date, the resume version you sent and the status when you last checked.
Litos keeps every application you prepare on one dashboard with its status. The employer's emails remain the final word on what happens next.
Questions.
Does In Progress mean I am still being considered?
It means the application is open and has not been closed. It does not tell you which stage it is at, because employers can show In Progress for several stages.
Does Under Consideration mean I passed the first screen?
Not necessarily. It is the employer's wording, and Workday does not define it the same way for every employer. Treat it as open, and watch for an email about a next step.
Why is my Workday application status blank?
Check that you are signed in to the right company's site, since each employer runs its own. If the status is still blank there, contact that employer's recruiting team.
Should I reapply if my status has not changed?
No. Reapplying to the same posting can create a duplicate application. Follow up with the recruiter instead, and keep applying to other roles.
Sources and further reading.
Keep going.
Written by Mehek Mandal, founder of Litos.