Job application status meanings: what each ATS tells you

Part of our ATS application guides: Workday · Greenhouse · Taleo · iCIMS · Lever

Most application statuses are labels your employer picked, not signals with a fixed meaning. Each applicant tracking system ships with a few default statuses that the vendor documents. Everything else is configured per company, which is why "under review" can mean a recruiter is reading your resume at one employer and nothing at all at another. Below: which statuses have fixed meanings in each system, which don't, and the two changes that are real signals everywhere.

Which statuses have fixed meanings

System	Fixed by the vendor	Employer-configured	Can you see a status?
Workday	None that applicants see	In Progress, In Process, Under Review, Under Consideration, Not Selected, Process Completed	Yes, in Candidate Home
iCIMS	None; statuses are an admin setting	Received, In Review, Under Consideration, Not Selected, and others	Yes, in the candidate dashboard, if the employer updates it
Taleo	Draft, Complete, Withdraw	Under Review, In Progress, Interviewing, Process Complete	Yes, under My Jobpage
Greenhouse	Active, Inactive	Nothing more detailed	Only if the employer turned on MyGreenhouse status sharing; most applicants see nothing
SmartRecruiters	New, In Review, Interview, Offered, Hired, Rejected, Archived	Stage names inside those	Yes, in the candidate portal
SuccessFactors	Requisition Closed (automatic)	In Progress, Under Review, Reviewed, Screened, Closed	Yes, on your careers-site profile
Ashby	Applied, Reviewing, interview stages	Stage names	Sometimes. Many Ashby employers only send email

If your status is in the middle column, nobody outside the company can tell you what it means for certain, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing.

Workday application status meanings

Workday lets each employer set the stage and status labels that candidates see, so the same word can mean different things at two companies. The common readings:

In Progress and In Process both mean your application is open in the pipeline. Neither confirms a human has looked at it. Applicants report sitting in "In Progress" for weeks and then getting an interview, and sitting in it for months and never hearing anything.
Under Review usually means the recruiting team has queued or started a look at the application. Usually. Some companies move every application to Under Review on receipt.
Under Consideration is the most positive status you can see before a person contacts you. It generally means you passed the first screen and are in the pool being weighed for interviews.
Not Selected means the employer closed your application. That covers a rejection, a filled role, and a cancelled requisition, and Workday does not tell you which.
Process Completed appears when the requisition's workflow finished. If you interviewed, it can mean a decision was made either way. If you never interviewed, it means the process ended without you.

One Workday-specific point: every employer runs its own Workday instance, so your status at one company says nothing about the others, and a company's statuses only update when someone on its recruiting team moves your application to a new stage. If you are still filling out the form, see our guide to what to add in the Workday skills section.

iCIMS status meanings

iCIMS's own admin documentation says candidate-facing statuses are an employer configuration. Which labels you see, and whether anyone updates them, is a per-company decision. That is why iCIMS directs applicants to the employer for status questions.

Within that caveat, the commonly reported ladder:

Received, New, Received Submission: your application is in the system. No human has necessarily seen it.
In Review, Under Review: the recruiting team is looking, or has queued a look.
Under Consideration: you are in the pool being weighed for interviews.
Hidden: not an iCIMS default. Applicants usually report it after the posting was taken down or the employer stopped sharing status. It is not a decision about you.
Closed, Not Selected, Not Moving Forward: the process ended, with or without you.

Timing varies from real time to weekly to never. Applicants report statuses frozen on "Interview Scheduled" weeks after the interview happened. A stale iCIMS status usually reflects a recruiting team that doesn't maintain the portal, not a message about you. The iCIMS application guide covers the dashboard, duplicate profiles, and the common errors.

Taleo submission status meanings

Oracle's documentation defines only three default statuses, and lets each employer rename or extend them.

Draft: the official definition is "the candidate has not completed his/her job application." A Draft submission is not under review. Log back in and finish; Taleo fast-forwards you to the first incomplete page.
Complete (shown as "Submission Status: Completed"): submitted and visible to the employer. This is the status most people search for. It means received, nothing more.
Withdraw: you pulled the application. No undo; reapply if it was accidental.

Everything else, including "Under Review," "In Progress," "Interviewing," and "Process Complete," is an employer label. The commonly reported readings: "Under Review" usually means a human is or will be looking; "Process Complete" on a role where you never interviewed usually means the process ended without you, and applicants report the Withdraw button disappearing at the same time. "Completed, Updated" means someone on the recruiting side touched the record after you submitted; it does not say what they did. More in the Taleo application guide.

Greenhouse: there usually is no status

Greenhouse does not show applicants a status by default. Companies can enable a candidate portal, MyGreenhouse, and choose whether to share statuses through it. Where they do, what you see is Active (still in the pipeline) or Inactive (rejected, or the role closed). If you applied through a Greenhouse form and have no login anywhere, that is normal. The only status signals are the confirmation email and whatever the recruiter sends. What can end a Greenhouse application silently is a knockout question, not a status.

SmartRecruiters application status meanings

SmartRecruiters shows applicants a stage in its candidate portal. New means received and unopened. In Review means a recruiter or coordinator opened the application and is screening it. Interview, Offered, and Hired mean what they say. Rejected is a decision.

Archived is the one that confuses people. SmartRecruiters uses Archived for applications that were transferred to another job, withdrawn by the candidate, or rejected by the hiring team. If you didn't withdraw or get moved, Archived is a rejection without the word.

SuccessFactors application status meanings

SAP SuccessFactors careers sites show a status on your candidate profile. In Progress means the application is open somewhere in the employer's workflow; it does not confirm a human review. Under Review, Reviewed, or Screened indicate a first confirmed human look. Closed means you are no longer under consideration.

Requisition Closed is the one status SAP documents as automatic: when an employer turns the setting on, every still-open applicant is moved to it when the job closes. It does not distinguish "filled by someone else" from "cancelled."

"Under review" vs. "under consideration"

Where both exist in the same system, "under consideration" is the later and more selective stage. "Under review" typically means screening is happening or queued; "under consideration" typically means you passed screening and are being weighed for interviews. At employers that use only one of the two, the label carries no extra information.

The two signals that are real in every system

The withdraw button disappears, or the job vanishes from your list. The requisition was closed or you were dispositioned. This is more reliable than any status word.
A status changes without an email. Someone on the recruiting team moved your application to a new stage. The direction isn't guaranteed, but a human touched it.

Everything else is a soft signal. If a decision matters to your planning, one short email to the recruiter after about two weeks is reasonable. A second one is not.

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Frequently asked questions

Does "in progress" mean someone read my resume?

No. In every system that uses it, "in progress" means the application is open. Human review is a separate stage, and not every employer surfaces it.

Does "under consideration" mean I'll get an interview?

No, but it is the most positive pre-contact status. It usually means you passed an initial screen and are in the pool being compared.

Why did my status change without an email?

Because a recruiter moved your application to a new stage, and the employer's system is not configured to notify applicants on that stage. Most systems only send email on receipt and on rejection, if then.

How long does "under review" last?

Anywhere from hours to indefinitely. The label persists until someone changes it, and at many employers nobody does. Judge by time since the posting closed, not by the label.

Why does my Taleo or Workday status say "completed"?

In Taleo, "Submission Status: Completed" means you finished submitting. It is not a decision. In Workday, "Process Completed" generally means the requisition's workflow ended, which is a decision one way or the other.

What is the difference between "under review" and "under consideration"?

Where both exist in the same system, under consideration is the later and more selective stage: screening is done and you are being weighed for interviews. Under review means screening is happening or queued.

Last updated October 14, 2026. Statuses are employer-configured; if yours is missing or means something different at your employer, tell us.