What job application statuses mean: viewed, in review, not progressing and the rest

What the job boards' own labels tell you

Each board shows a status only for applications it can see, and the wording differs from board to board. Here is what their help pages say, as checked on 6 October 2026.

Seek. Seek's help centre explains "viewed" mainly through the cases where Seek cannot show it. Where an advertiser manages applications in outside software, Seek shows "Viewed status unavailable", because it cannot give up-to-date information such as if, or when, your resume has been viewed. Its advice is to contact the employer directly. The same applies when an ad sends you to the employer's own website to apply: Seek says it cannot track any details of that application, and only the job ad stays in your Applied Jobs list. So a Seek application with no "viewed" mark may simply be one Seek cannot see into.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn's help says that if you used Easy Apply on a job hosted on LinkedIn, you get an update when the job poster views your application, which can include your answers to screening questions, or downloads your resume. A download often means they wanted the full file or to forward it to a colleague. LinkedIn is plain that neither one guarantees a message, an interview or an offer.

Indeed. Indeed's help lists the most labels. "Application viewed" means the employer reviewed it, "Employer reached out" means they contacted you through Indeed, and "Not selected by employer" means they turned it down. Indeed itself sets "Employer reviewing applications" (they are reviewing, but have not reached yours), "Job closed", and "Response seems unlikely", which appears when the employer has hired enough people or nothing has happened on your application for at least two weeks. Indeed says its own statuses show only in its mobile app, and that employer statuses are usually only available for jobs posted directly on Indeed. You can set Interviewing, Offer received, Hired or No longer interested yourself.

The labels employer portals use

Most large employers, recruitment agencies and public sector agencies run applications through a hiring system behind their careers page, each with a candidate login and its own words. The same label can mean different things from one employer to the next, but these are the usual meanings:

• Received, submitted or new. The system has your application. Nobody has necessarily read it.
• In review, under review or in progress. The application is in the pile being assessed, often until well after the closing date. It can sit here for weeks, and on many systems it stays here for people who are later turned down without the status changing.
• Shortlisted or interview. You have been picked to go further. A person usually contacts you before or as this changes.
• Not progressing, unsuccessful or regretted. No for this role. "Regretted" is recruiter shorthand for a polite rejection, and it is final for this vacancy, though not for the employer.
• Archived, inactive or closed. The least clear label. It can mean the vacancy was filled or cancelled, or that your application was filed away. Without a message, treat it as closed.
• Withdrawn. Usually that you withdrew. If you did not, the employer may have pulled the vacancy, and it is worth one short email to ask.

What to do at each one

A status only matters for what you do next. This is a sensible response to each, counted from the later of the closing date and your last contact with the employer:

For the follow-up, our follow-up email after applying is ready to fill in, and it works whatever the portal says. After a rejection, the feedback request template asks for one or two specific points, which is easier for a busy hiring manager to answer than a general request. Feedback is worth asking for after an interview. After an application that never reached interview, most employers will not give it.

A label that never moves

The hardest status is the one that stays at "in review" or "received" for a month. Many systems never send a rejection, and many applications are never moved on. A label frozen in place usually means the vacancy has moved on without you, and only rarely that it is still being considered.

The rule of thumb is three weeks. Once three weeks have passed since the closing date or your last contact, with no reply to your follow-up, treat the application as presumed ghosted and close it. Our article on how long to hear back after applying sets out the 7, 14 and 21 day marks and the short closing note to send. If the employer gets in touch later, you can always reopen it.

Closing it does not withdraw your application. It only stops it taking up space on your list and in your head.

Keep your own stage on one board

Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed and each employer's portal use different words, show different amounts, and lose sight of applications at different points. Applications made on careers pages have no shared list at all. The only record that covers every application, in the same words, is one you keep yourself.

Give each application one stage of your own (applied, screening, interview, offer or closed), the date of your last contact, and the next thing you owe. When a portal changes its label, update your stage if it means something, and ignore it if it does not. Our article on how to track job applications lists the fields worth keeping.

The easiest moment to start the record is when you apply. On a computer, you can save the job in one press from Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed, Student Job Search, ZEIL or a careers page, with the whole ad kept against it. In jobtracker.co.nz each job then has its own stage, from Saved through Applied, Screening and the interview rounds to Offer, Accepted or Closed, and a closed job keeps the reason, such as Presumed ghosted, They declined or Listing expired, so later you can see which kinds of employers reply.

One stage per job, in your own words