Workday is a widely used Human Capital Management (HCM) system that tracks every candidate’s journey from initial submission to final decision. Applying for a new job often involves uncertainty, especially when tracking systems use vague terminology. Understanding the specific meanings behind the application statuses displayed in your Workday portal helps clarify where you stand in the process and reduces the anxiety of waiting for a response.
How the Workday Recruiting Process Works
Workday’s recruiting module functions as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that automates the movement of candidates through a company’s hiring pipeline. The system is highly configurable, allowing organizations to define a specific “Recruiting Workflow” tailored to their internal policies and compliance requirements. This workflow is a series of stages that recruiters or hiring managers manually advance candidates through.
The candidate’s status is updated each time an internal HR action occurs, such as a recruiter viewing a resume or a manager scheduling a phone screen. Recruiters use Workday to manage high volumes of applicants, screen profiles, and collaborate on next steps. The status reflects the step the company has currently placed you in, based on its predefined hiring process.
Initial Application Statuses
This section addresses the initial submission and screening phase. Most applications are either logged or filtered out during these early stages, making their definitions important for job seekers.
Application Submitted
This status confirms the system has successfully received your digital application materials. It means your information has been stored in the database but has not yet been routed for human or automated review. The time spent in this stage varies widely depending on the job’s popularity and the company’s volume of open requisitions.
Application Received
In some organizations, this status is interchangeable with “Application Submitted.” When used distinctly, “Application Received” signifies that the application has been successfully logged and is ready to enter the official recruiting workflow. This confirms your documents are accessible to the hiring team.
In Progress
The “In Progress” status is one of the most ambiguous terms in Workday, covering a broad range of internal activities. It indicates that your application has moved past the initial reception and is actively being reviewed by a recruiter, a hiring manager, or an automated screening tool. This status may persist through multiple internal steps, such as initial resume review, passing a keyword filter, or being internally shortlisted.
Screening
When your status changes to “Screening,” a human recruiter has begun a focused evaluation of your application against the job requirements. This stage involves comparing your skills and experience against the job description’s qualifications. The system may also automatically flag your profile based on pre-set criteria, such as specific certifications or years of experience, to help the recruiter prioritize candidates. If a phone screen is required, the status may change to a sub-status like “Recruiter Screen Scheduled.”
Active Review and Interview Statuses
Once an application moves beyond the initial screening, the statuses become more action-oriented. This signals that the candidate has passed preliminary filters and is a viable contender. These stages involve direct interaction with the hiring team and often require specific actions from the applicant.
Interview
The “Interview” status indicates that a formal conversation has been scheduled or completed as part of the evaluation process. Companies frequently use sub-statuses like “Interview Scheduled,” “Panel Interview,” or “Interview Complete” to track progress through multiple rounds. Your status remains in this category until all required interviews are finalized and the hiring team is ready to move to the next phase.
Assessment
The “Assessment” status is applied when the company requires you to complete a specific task or test to measure your aptitude, skills, or cultural fit. This may include a coding challenge, a written exercise, a personality inventory, or a case study relevant to the job function. Workday can integrate with third-party testing platforms, and the status change signals that the results are being reviewed by the hiring team.
Background Check Pending
A change to “Background Check Pending” is a positive indicator, suggesting the company intends to extend an offer, contingent upon satisfactory verification. This process involves a third-party vendor who contacts you separately to obtain authorization for checks on criminal records, education verification, and previous employment history. The status remains pending until the vendor delivers the final report back to the employer’s Human Resources department.
Offer Extended
This status confirms the organization has officially decided to hire you for the position. The “Offer Extended” status often accompanies the delivery of a formal digital offer letter that you are prompted to review and sign electronically within the system. While you may have received a verbal offer, this status confirms the generation of the official documentation and compensation details.
Final Decision Statuses
The final stages of the Workday recruiting workflow conclude the process, regardless of whether the outcome is positive or negative. These statuses are definitive and represent the final judgment on the job opening.
Hired
The “Hired” status confirms you have accepted the employment offer and the organization has initiated the internal processes to transition you to an employee. This change triggers the beginning of the onboarding sequence, which often involves new tasks within Workday related to benefits enrollment and mandatory new-hire paperwork.
Not Selected
The “Not Selected” status means the company has decided to move forward with a different candidate or determined your qualifications were not the best fit. This is an automated system notification that follows a decision made by the hiring team or a recruiter. The system is configured to send a standard rejection email, and the status change officially closes your application for that specific job requisition.
Filled
The “Filled” status indicates that the entire job requisition has been closed because a candidate has been successfully hired. If your status changes to “Filled” without receiving an interview or a personalized rejection, it means the position is no longer open. This can also occur if the job was canceled, put on hold, or if the company promoted an internal candidate instead of continuing the external search.
Why Workday Statuses Differ Across Organizations
A key feature of the Workday ATS is its high degree of customizability, which explains why status names and sequences vary significantly between companies. Organizations can rename default system stages, add intermediate steps, or combine multiple actions into a single status. For example, one company’s “Under Review” might be another’s “In Progress,” even though the underlying action—a recruiter evaluating the profile—is the same.
This flexibility allows employers to tailor the workflow to their specific compliance needs, internal hierarchy, and hiring speed. A company requiring three rounds of interviews might create three distinct “Interview” statuses, while another uses a single generic status. The lack of universal standardization is a direct result of this platform flexibility, which is designed to serve the company’s internal process.
What to Do While Waiting for a Status Update
Waiting for an application status to change can be frustrating, but maintaining a productive and forward-looking strategy is the best approach. Job seekers should assume the process will take longer than expected, as high application volume or internal delays can slow down status updates. It is wise to continue applying for other roles and keep your job search active until you have a signed offer letter.
If your status has remained stagnant for several weeks, a polite follow-up email to the recruiter is appropriate. The communication should be brief, professional, and focused on reaffirming your interest and asking for a general timeline update. Before reaching out, verify that you have the correct contact information.