On sourcing: Workday is configured by each employer, so there is no single list of Workday statuses to quote. The meanings below come from employers' own candidate guides (four US universities) and from Workday's own course manuals and administrator guides, which describe the settings employers choose. Where employers use one word differently, both readings are shown.
Why the labels differ between employers
Workday's course manual for recruiting administrators describes an "External Label Override", a setting employers use "in communications sent to candidates or agencies" (Workday, Recruiting for Administrators). Its own example shows a candidate the label In Progress while the employer's internal steps are called Review, Screen and Interview. The candidate-facing word is a translation the employer writes, not a fixed Workday term.
The result shows in employers' guides. The University of Wisconsin–Madison lists Submitted, In Progress, Completed and Withdrew (UW–Madison Office of Human Resources). The University of Washington lists In Progress, Sent to dept, Not selected, Withdrew and Recruitment Canceled (University of Washington). The University of Alabama at Birmingham uses eight labels, from Information Received and Under Review to Background Screening and Not Selected (UAB Human Resources). Three employers, three vocabularies.
What the common statuses usually mean
| Status you see | What employers say it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Submitted | On the Active tab: the application is in the review stage, waiting to be screened | UW–Madison |
| Under Review, Under Consideration | Still in the process: "You are progressing through the hiring process and may be contacted if you are a top candidate" | UAB |
| In Progress (one reading) | HR is reviewing the resume against the minimum qualifications and eligibility | University of Washington |
| In Progress (another reading) | The application has moved to another active stage, such as an interview, an assessment or the employment agreement | UW–Madison |
| Not Selected | "You were not selected for this position" | University of Washington |
| Inactive | "Inactive means your application is no longer being considered for that position" | CSU Pueblo |
| Completed (on the Inactive tab) | Declined for a reason the employer recorded, or the job requisition was canceled | UW–Madison |
| Recruitment Canceled | "Recruitment was canceled by the department" | University of Washington |
| Withdrew | You withdrew the application | UW–Madison, University of Washington |
In Progress is the label to read most carefully. At the University of Washington it describes the first check of your resume; at UW–Madison it means you are past the first review. UAB uses the same wording for In Progress as for Under Review. Without the employer's own page, In Progress tells you only that the application is still active.
Two tabs matter as much as the words. UW–Madison's guide sorts applications into Active and Inactive tabs, and Colorado State University Pueblo's applicant guide says an Inactive application may show a reason, such as Not Selected or Application Withdrawn (CSU Pueblo applicant FAQ). At the employers above, an application on the Inactive tab is closed for that job, whatever the label says.
Why a status can change soon after you apply
When a status turns to Not Selected or Inactive within minutes or hours, a rule may have run rather than a person. Workday's documentation describes two rules employers can switch on.
Screening answers
Workday's administrator guide says employers "can use condition rules to automatically advance or decline candidates" (Workday Administrator Guide). The course manual's example is a candidate who answers No to a question asking whether they are 18 or older and is declined with a disposition reason about not meeting the job's qualifications. CSU Pueblo's guide lists "Does Not Meet Minimums" among its Inactive reasons. A fast decline can therefore reflect an answer to one of the application's questions rather than anything in your resume.
The job was filled or closed
Another administrator guide describes a setting to "decline the remaining active job applications when you fill the last job opening" (Workday Administrator Guide). It is optional, and each employer decides whether to use it. UW–Madison's guide adds that when a requisition is canceled, candidates see Completed on the Inactive tab.
Both are settings each employer chooses, so a decline that arrives this way says nothing about how other companies on Workday will treat the same application.
Q.Does Workday use AI to screen resumes?
Workday sells AI screening that employers can add, so the answer depends on the employer. In February 2024 Workday announced its intent to acquire HiredScore (Workday newsroom), and in August 2024 it described the product as using AI "to quickly and transparently identify candidates whose skills and experience most closely match an open requisition" (Workday newsroom). HiredScore's documentation says it "assigns candidates a grade" that recruiters see, from A down to D, where D means the "Candidate does not meet most basic qualifications" (Workday HiredScore documentation). Workday's product page says "final hiring decisions always remain with the recruiter and hiring manager" (Workday).
The documentation places the grade in recruiter views, Spotlight and the Pending Actions dashboard, and none of the candidate guides above mentions it. The AI tools are also the subject of a lawsuit: in May 2025 a federal court in California granted preliminary certification of a collective action for applicants over 40 in Mobley v. Workday, which alleges that Workday's AI-based applicant recommendation system discriminated against job applicants (order, N.D. Cal. case 23-cv-00770). That order lets the claim proceed; it is not a finding that the allegations are true.
What you control is the same with or without AI: answer the screening questions accurately, and make sure your resume states the requirements you meet in the posting's own words. Paste the posting and your resume into our free ATS checker to see which requirements your resume does not yet show. CVder's score is its own and is not the grade an employer sees; what is a good ATS score explains how it is calculated.
See what your resume is missing — before you apply.
CVder reads the job posting and your resume side by side, then shows the exact terms to add and the formatting a parser would trip on.
What to do while you wait
- Read the employer's own status page if it has one. The University of Washington and UAB publish theirs, linked above.
- Do not withdraw to "refresh" an application. At several employers a withdrawal is final for that job; editing or withdrawing a Workday application lists which ones, and how to ask the recruiter for a change instead.
- Note the status and the date you saw it for every application. Each employer runs its own Candidate Home, so there is no single place that shows all your Workday applications. A spreadsheet works, and so does a job application tracker.
- If the posting names a contact and the status has not moved for a while, a short, specific email is reasonable. How to email a recruiter about a job has templates.
- Status labels are written by each employer, so read them next to that employer's help page.
- In the guides we checked, Submitted means waiting for the first screen; Under Review and In Progress mean still active, at a stage that differs by employer.
- Not Selected, Completed or anything on the Inactive tab means that job is closed to you, at the employers above.
- A very fast decline can come from a screening-question rule or a filled job, both employer settings.
- Some employers add Workday's AI grading, which is shown to recruiters; Workday says the final decision rests with people.