Job Application Status Meanings: What Each Label Really Tells You
Job application status meanings explained: what In Process, Application Received and Closed mean in Workday, iCIMS, ADP and SuccessFactors, and what to do.
On this pageWhat do application status meanings actually tell you?
- What do application status meanings actually tell you?
- Is "Under Review" better than "In Progress"?
- Which statuses do tell you something?
- What are the real signals?
- What should you do while a status sits unchanged?
- Does the platform change what the labels mean?
- When does an unchanged status mean rejection?
- FAQ
- Sources
Job application statuses are labels a recruiter updates by hand, not live signals about who is reading your file. So they are reliable one way only. Rejection labels such as Not Selected or Closed are clear and accurate. But Under Review, In Progress, In Process and Application Received all mean the same thing at most companies: your file is still open.
Job application status meanings are simpler than they look. Most labels, such as Application Received, In Process or Under Review, only mean your file is still open. Rejection labels, such as Not Selected or Closed, are the only ones that tell you something for sure.
You refresh the portal again, and it still says "In Progress," just like yesterday. Someone on Reddit says "Under Review" is better, so you try to work out which one you have.
Here is the short answer: at most companies those two labels mean the same thing. The words depend on how the employer set up its system, not on where you stand.
But the labels are not useless. They tell you something real in one direction only, and knowing which one saves a lot of refreshing.
What do application status meanings actually tell you?
They are labels a recruiter changes by hand when your file moves from one hiring stage to the next. They are not live signals that someone is reading your resume. "Under Review" often means your file is waiting in a queue, not in front of a person.
So the way the system works explains the rest.
A status changes1 when a person drags your record from one column to the next, or when a set rule fires. Nothing tracks who looked at your file. If a recruiter reads forty resumes on Thursday and updates the system on Monday, your status was wrong for four days.
That leads to three problems, and they explain why application status meanings feel so random:
Statuses lag behind. Often by days, sometimes by weeks.
Statuses go stale. A file can sit at "In Progress" long after the job was filled or put on hold, because closing it helps nobody inside the company.
Employers rename the labels. They pick the words you see, so the same word can mean different steps at different companies.
Is "Under Review" better than "In Progress"?
No. At most companies "Under Review," "In Progress," "In Process" and "Under Consideration" all mean the same thing: your file is still open. The words differ because each employer sets up its own labels, not because you are further along.
This is the comparison people most want to make. But it falls apart once you see how the systems work.
| Label | What people think it means | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Submitted / Received | Confirmed and queued | Confirmed and queued |
| In Progress | Actively moving forward | In a workflow, possibly not yet reviewed |
| In Process | Further along than In Progress | The same as In Progress |
| Under Review | A human is reading it now | In a screening queue |
| Under Consideration | Shortlisted | Still open |
| Active Candidate | Advancing | Still open |
Every row below the first says the same thing: nobody has closed your file. That is worth knowing, and it is all these labels can tell you.
What does "application received" mean?
It means the system logged your application. It does not mean a person has read it yet. Think of it as a receipt: your file is in the queue, and the next real sign will come from a person, not the label.
Some employers fold this step into another label. On the City of Tucson's Workday portal7, "In Progress" means an application was received from the job post and is under review. So first check that the confirmation email arrived and the right file is attached. Then wait for direct contact. If the portal runs on iCIMS, check what each iCIMS status label means and why many stay on Under Review.
What does "in process" mean on a job application?
It means your file is open and somewhere between your submission and a final decision. "In Process" and "In Progress" are the same idea in different words. If the label stays the same for weeks, that alone tells you nothing new.
Chron gives the same general reading: "in progress" sits between first acceptance and final review13. Some employers are more specific. At the University of Washington6, "In Progress" means HR is checking your resume for the minimum qualifications.
Many employers send tests, screening forms or scheduling links in the first 72 hours, and those emails often land in spam. Search your inbox and junk folder for the company name, the word "assessment" and the system name, such as Workday, Greenhouse or iCIMS. A missed test looks just like silence, and it is the one kind of silence you can fix.
Which statuses do tell you something?
The rejection ones. "Not selected," "No longer under consideration," "Closed" and "Inactive" are clear and accurate on every major platform. So the system tells you when you are out, but it tells you little while you are still in.
That one-way pattern is the most useful thing on this page.
Rejection labels are trustworthy.2 No platform uses "Not selected" to mean anything else. When the status turns final, believe it and move on. If rejections keep coming, work through the usual reasons applications stop converting.
Progress labels are not. They cannot tell "a recruiter picked you this morning" apart from "your file has sat untouched for three weeks."
So use the portal for one narrow job: check it now and then for a clear rejection, and ignore it as a sign of how well things are going. If that rejection arrives, it helps to know when to reapply to a company.
What does a "closed" application status mean?
It usually means you are out for that job. The posting may be filled, canceled or no longer taking applicants. Treat it as final for that posting and stop checking it.
Chron lists "position closed"13 among the labels that mean you will not be considered. The University of Washington uses "Recruitment Canceled"6 when a job will not be filled at all. If an automated email came with the status, our guide to the ATS rejection email meaning explains the timing and the stock phrases.
What are the real signals?
Direct contact from a person. An email, a test invite, a scheduling request or a recruiter viewing your profile all count. Anything a person sent you carries meaning; anything the system shows on its own does not.
The test is simple: did a person do something, or did a database fill in a field?
Real signals: an email from a recruiter, a test link, an interview request, a request for references or your free times, a recruiter viewing your LinkedIn profile.
Not signals: a status label, a status changing, a status not changing, how long a status has been showing, the order of labels in a dropdown.
Candidate A. "Under Review" for three weeks. No emails. Refreshes daily. Candidate B. Still says "Submitted." An assessment link arrived on day four and a recruiter viewed their LinkedIn on day six. Candidate B is further along, and the portal says the opposite. The label shows who updated a record, not who read a resume.
Free ATS score, the text the software extracts and your missing keywords. No sign-up.
What should you do while a status sits unchanged?
Go by the calendar, not the portal. The median first reply comes on day six or seven, so follow up once between day seven and ten, to a named person. Then keep applying: the average job post draws about 73 applicants and interviews three.
Do four things, and none of them involves decoding application status meanings:
1. Check your submission. Make sure the confirmation email came, the right file is attached and your contact details are correct. A typo in your email address blocks every message that follows. It also helps to run the file through an ATS resume checker to confirm the parser read your details.
2. Check spam for the first 72 hours. Tests and screening forms often end up there.
3. Follow up by the calendar, not the label. How long to hear back after applying covers the timing; how to follow up on a job application covers the message. Send it once, on day seven to ten, to a named recruiter.
4. Keep applying. The average job post3 draws about 73 applicants and interviews three. The other seventy watch a status for weeks, sometimes long after the job is filled. How many jobs you should apply to turns that ratio into a weekly number. Tailoring each application is faster from a strong base, such as a data analyst resume sample if you work with data.
Data analyst resume example
Use it as a base file to tailor for each data job you apply to.
Do
- Track your applications outside the portals, in a sheet with the date applied, the follow-up date and the contact. Five portals with five sets of labels is not a system.
Don’t
- Reapply to the same job post to reset the status. It creates a duplicate record that confuses the recruiter. Reapply only when the job is reposted under a new number.
Does the platform change what the labels mean?
A little, but the employer's setup matters more. Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, SAP SuccessFactors and ADP each use their own words, and most let employers rename the labels you see. So two companies on the same platform can show different words for the same step.
Here is a rough guide to application status meanings by platform. Keep in mind that each employer's setup can change all of it:
| Platform | Common labels |
|---|---|
| Workday | Submitted, In Progress, In Process, Under Review, Active Candidate, Not Selected |
| Greenhouse | Active, In Review, Rejected |
| iCIMS | Under Review (the default), Under Consideration |
| SAP SuccessFactors | A candidate label chosen by the employer, such as In Progress |
| ADP Workforce Now | Shown under Applications History, set by the hiring team |
| SmartRecruiters | In Review, Transferred |
| Lever | Often little or no status shown to candidates |
Notice how little separates them. Each platform has one or two words for "still open" and one clear word for "closed," which is the same one-way signal in different words.
Statuses are workflow labels a recruiter updates when they move your application between pipeline stages — not live signals that someone is reading your resume right now.
ResumeAI, on Workday status mechanics
Workday application status meanings
You see Workday statuses in Candidate Home, under My Applications. "In Progress" means the employer received your application and is reviewing it. "Not Selected" means you are out. Some employers also show "Withdrew" if you pulled out, or "Recruitment Canceled" if the job will not be filled.
These details come from employers that use Workday. The University of Washington's guide6 says "In Progress" means HR is checking your resume for minimum qualifications, and "Sent to dept" means the hiring manager now has it. The City of Tucson7 defines "Not Selected" as no longer under consideration.
iCIMS application status meanings
In iCIMS, each employer writes the status label you see, one status at a time. If the employer never wrote a label for a step, iCIMS shows "Under Review" by default. So an iCIMS "Under Review" can cover several hidden steps and says little about your place in line.
This comes from iCIMS's own help article on candidate-facing statuses8. For how the system parses and ranks your file before anyone sees it, read how iCIMS works.
SuccessFactors application status meanings
SAP SuccessFactors gives each step two labels: an internal one for recruiters and a candidate label for you. So the recruiter may see "Interview" while you see a general "In Progress." Employers can also add next-step text to your Jobs Applied page.
SAP's own training9 uses that exact example, and it notes that not every internal step needs to be shown to candidates. Services Australia, which hires through SuccessFactors, tells applicants to check the Jobs Applied tab10 for their status and next step.
ADP application status meanings
In ADP Workforce Now, you check your status under Applications History after you sign in. The hiring team updates that status by hand. ADP does not send you an update each time it changes, so a status that looks stuck is normal.
The Kresge Foundation's ADP FAQ12 shows where to find Applications History. Jacksonville University's ADP FAQ11 says hiring managers own the status updates and that ADP "does not automatically send updates to applicants." So follow up by email instead of waiting on the label.
When does an unchanged status mean rejection?
When it stops mattering, not when it changes. After two to three weeks with no direct contact and one follow-up sent, treat the job as closed, whatever the label says. Many jobs are filled without anyone updating the candidate records.
Many portals never update at all. Someone fills the job, the recruiter moves on, and forty candidate records sit at "Under Review" for good, because closing them helps nobody.
So your decision rule cannot depend on the label. Use the calendar instead: first reply around day six or seven, one follow-up on day seven to ten, and after another week of silence, treat it as a no and move your time elsewhere. Signs an interview went well uses the same idea for later stages: the real signals are things people do, not things systems show.
One last check if several applications stall the same way: were the jobs real? About one in five listings is a ghost job, and a status that never changes on an always-open post is one of the quiet tells. Rather than wait on one listing, put the time into a stronger application. These tech resume examples show how to tailor one base file to each IT job, and these IT cover letter examples help when a post asks for a letter.
Frequently asked questions
What does closed application status mean?
It usually means you are out for that job. The posting was filled, canceled or stopped taking applicants. Treat it as final and put your time into other applications.
What does application received mean?
It means the system logged your application. It does not mean a person has read it. Check that the confirmation email arrived, then wait for direct contact from the employer.
What does Under Review mean in iCIMS?
Often very little. iCIMS shows "Under Review" by default for any step the employer did not give its own label, so it can cover several hidden stages.
What does "Under Review" mean on a job application?
Usually that your application is sitting in the requisition's queue rather than in front of a person. It confirms your file is still open and nothing more specific than that.
Is "Under Review" better than "In Progress"?
No. At most companies both mean your application is still open. The difference reflects how the employer configured their labels, not your position in the process.
Do application statuses update in real time?
No. A recruiter updates them by hand when moving records between pipeline stages, so they commonly lag reality by days and sometimes never update at all.
Which application statuses actually mean something?
The rejection ones. "Not selected", "No longer under consideration", "Closed" and "Inactive" are explicit and accurate across every major platform. Progress labels carry no comparable reliability.
Does "In Progress" mean someone is reading my resume?
Not necessarily. In Workday it typically means your application is moving through an internal workflow, which can include automated checks or routing to a queue before any human sees it.
Should I reapply if my status never changes?
No. Reapplying to the same requisition creates a duplicate record that confuses the recruiter's workflow. Reapply only when the role is genuinely reposted under a new requisition number.
How long should a status stay unchanged before I move on?
Two to three weeks with no direct communication, after one follow-up. Many roles are filled without candidate records ever being updated, so the label changing cannot be your decision rule.
What are the real signs my application is progressing?
Things a person actively did — an email, an assessment link, a scheduling request, a recruiter viewing your profile. Anything the system displays passively tells you nothing.
Sources
We opened and read each page below. The small numbers in the text point here. Pages that carry no publication date show n.d.
- ResumeAI2026
Statuses are workflow labels a recruiter updates rather than live signals; "Under…
- Careery2026
At many companies "under review", "in progress" and "under consideration" all mean…
- Careery2026
The average job posting attracts 73 applicants and interviews three; reapplying to…
- JobWizard2026
In Workday, "In Progress" indicates movement through an internal workflow rather than…
- JobWizard2026
Different employers configure Workday stages differently, which is why status meanings feel…
- University of Washington2026
In Workday, In Progress means UW HR is checking minimum qualifications; Not selected, Withdrew and Recruitment Canceled are final
- City of Tucsonn.d.
Workday Candidate Home: In Progress means received and under review; Not Selected means no longer under consideration
- iCIMS Communityn.d.
Employers set candidate-facing status labels per status; unlabeled statuses display as Under Review
- SAP Learningn.d.
SuccessFactors statuses have an internal label and a candidate label, such as In Progress shown while recruiters see Interview
- Services Australian.d.
SuccessFactors applicants see their status and next step under Job Management, Jobs Applied
- Jacksonville Universityn.d.
In ADP, hiring managers update statuses and ADP does not automatically send updates to applicants
- The Kresge Foundation2020
ADP Workforce Now applicants view status under Applications History
- Chronn.d.
In progress sits between initial acceptance and final review; position closed means you will not be considered
Mohammad has spent more than ten years designing consumer products and leads product at Rezoom, deciding what gets built and what gets left out. His guides cover the whole job search, from resume sections and cover letters to interview answers and career moves.
Goodi, M. (2026, October 29). Job Application Status Meanings: What Each Label Really Tells You. Rezoom. https://rezoom.io/application-status-meanings/