USAJOBS application statuses: what each one means and what to do next

You applied for a federal job weeks ago and USAJOBS still says Reviewing applications. Or it says Not referred with no reason given, or Referred and then nothing for a month. The statuses are terse, they come from two different systems, and they are easy to misread in both directions — too hopeful and too discouraged.

This guide is for anyone waiting on a federal application: nurses, pharmacists, technicians and support staff applying to VA, HHS, the Indian Health Service, the Defense Health Agency or any other agency through USAJOBS. It explains what each status means, which one to trust when they disagree, how long each stage tends to take, and what to do next at every step.

Why does USAJOBS show two different statuses?

Next to each application in your USAJOBS profile you see a job status, not an application status. The USAJOBS Help Center is explicit about the split: after you apply, the hiring agency is responsible for providing the status of your application, and you see it by clicking Track this application, which takes you into the agency’s own application system.

In other words, the job status tells you where the job is. The application status tells you where you are. USAJOBS adds that the hiring agency sends the status and that USAJOBS has no control over the status, or over the lack of one. If a status looks wrong or stale, USAJOBS cannot fix it; only the agency can.

One catch: an application status exists only if you applied through the Apply button on USAJOBS. If you applied on an agency website, or by fax, email or mail, USAJOBS cannot track it. The same is true if the Track this application link is missing. In both cases, the contact named on the announcement is your only source of status.

What do the five job statuses mean?

• Accepting applications. The announcement is open. While it stays open you can usually still edit your application and add documents.
• Reviewing applications. The announcement has closed and the agency is reviewing applications. This label stays until hiring is finished, so it says nothing about your own progress.
• Hiring complete. The position is filled. USAJOBS says that for applicants who were not selected, the agency updates the job status to Hiring complete — so this may be the only signal you get.
• Job canceled. The agency withdrew the announcement and did not hire anyone. USAJOBS notes an agency can cancel an announcement at any time after posting it.
• Job closed. The closing date passed and the agency received no applications through the online process, or the job did not take online applications at all. If you see this on a job you believe you applied to, open Track this application straight away and confirm the agency actually has your application.

A cancellation is rarely about the applicants. Since Executive Order 14356 of 15 October 2025, each agency’s Strategic Hiring Committee must approve the creation or filling of vacancies, with some exceptions, and agencies prepare annual staffing plans in coordination with OPM and the Office of Management and Budget. An announcement can be withdrawn because approval, funding or priorities changed, with no reflection on anyone who applied.

What do the application statuses mean inside the agency system?

Many agencies process applications in USA Staffing, OPM’s hiring system. USA Hire assessments are delivered after you apply through USA Staffing. Its applicant help pages define the statuses you will see after clicking Track this application. Other agency systems use their own wording, so treat the list below as the common pattern rather than a universal one.

• Application Ready to Submit: you have completed every part of the application but have not pressed Submit Application. Nothing has been sent.
• Received: you have successfully submitted the application.
• Not Referred: you met the minimum qualification requirements but were not found to be among the best qualified, so you were not referred to the hiring manager.
• Referred: you were referred to the hiring manager for selection consideration.
• Not Selected: you were not selected, and you were not referred on any additional certificates.
• Selected: you were selected for the position.
• Cancelled: the agency cancelled the job announcement.

The same page carries two sections that matter more than the status line. Supporting Documents lists every document the announcement accepted or required and whether you submitted it. Notifications holds every email the agency sent about this application. The status is a single word; the notification behind it usually says why.

Received: check it within a day, not a week

USAJOBS says it can take a few hours after you submit for the agency to update your status, and that not every agency sends a confirmation email. Do not rely on the email. Go back and look.

• Open Track this application and confirm the status reads Received, with a submission date and time.
• Open Supporting Documents and check that every required item is listed: transcripts, license verification, a DD-214 or other proof for veterans’ preference, an SF-50 if you are a current or former federal employee.
• If you faxed anything, expect a delay before it shows as received. If it never appears, contact the agency.
• If something is missing and the announcement is still open, use Edit my application. USAJOBS notes you may also need to edit an application that was rejected as incomplete.
• Look for an assessment notice. If the job uses USA Hire tests, you get a notice with a unique link and a deadline on the submission screen and by email. The notice gives your completion deadline, which in OPM’s template is 11:59 p.m. Eastern on the closing date. OPM’s sample language allows 48 hours only when a link arrives after closing, for example after an accommodation request. Set aside about two hours, and do not leave it to closing day.

Reviewing: what HR is actually doing

Agencies do not review applications until the announcement closes. Then HR works through them in stages. First eligibility — whether you fall within the groups the announcement was open to. Then rating, which USAJOBS defines as comparing your experience or education against OPM requirements to decide whether you are minimally qualified. Then ranking, which compares candidates against factors set for the specific job to decide who is best qualified. USAJOBS describes the result as two groups, minimally qualified and highest qualified, with the highest qualified sent to the hiring official.

The ranking step changed in 2025 and 2026. Under OPM’s Merit Hiring Plan guidance, agencies had until 30 September 2025 to stop using self-assessment questionnaires to rate and rank applicants, apart from positions at GS-4 and below, seasonal work and some wage-grade jobs. Those questionnaires can still screen for minimum qualifications and eligibility, but at least one technical assessment — a skills test, a structured resume review, a structured interview or similar — now has to come before the list of names goes to the manager.

OPM’s Rule of Many final rule, published on 8 September 2025, took effect on 7 November 2025, with agencies required to comply fully by 9 March 2026. It lets agencies rank candidates numerically, set minimum passing scores, and certify a set number of candidates in score order while upholding veterans’ preference. The practical effect for you: a 2026 Not referred may reflect a test score or an expert’s resume review, not the answers you gave on a questionnaire.

How long does review take? USAJOBS says it may take up to two weeks after a job closes for the agency to review all applications, and that it may have nothing to tell you before then. The Merit Hiring Plan sets a government-wide goal of under 80 days — but that is a target, not a promise, and it counts time to the initial offer, not to your first day.

Not referred: what it means and what to do

In USA Staffing, Not Referred means you met the minimum qualifications but were not among the best qualified. It is not a finding that you cannot do the job. OPM’s USA Hire help pages put it plainly: not being referred does not mean you failed the assessment or that you are not qualified for the position. In OPM’s words, "Federal hiring has many rules and regulations that affect who gets referred," such as veterans’ preference and where the cut-off falls.

Being found ineligible is different, and the notification will usually say which it was. If a USA Hire test with a cut score was the reason, the standard message reads: "You are ineligible to proceed in the hiring process because you did not attain the overall minimum score on the required assessments for this position." Other ineligible notices point to minimum qualifications, or to not falling within the groups the announcement was open to.

• Read the notification in Track this application before anything else. Note exactly which reason was given.
• Put your resume beside the announcement’s qualifications section. Is the specialized experience the announcement asks for described in plain words, with dates and job titles, in your resume — not just implied?
• Ask the HR contact on the announcement how you were rated. OPM will not release USA Hire scores or cut scores, citing 5 CFR 300.201(a), but the hiring agency may share rating or scoring information under its own policy.
• If a USA Hire test was involved, remember the results are normally reused for 12 months for any job that uses the same assessment. Applying to a different series or grade may use a different test or cut score.
• Keep applying. USAJOBS confirms you can apply again if the same job is reposted — follow the new announcement’s instructions rather than resubmitting the old application unchanged.

Referred: you are on the list, not yet in the room

Referred means your name went to the hiring manager on a certificate for selection consideration. It does not guarantee an interview. The hiring official decides whom to interview under agency policy, and USAJOBS lists the formats as panel, in person, video and phone, sometimes in more than one round. The agency will not tell you in advance whether you will be interviewed; it contacts you directly if you are.

The Merit Hiring Plan adds steps after the interview that explain a lot of silence. Hiring managers are expected to run structured interviews, and agency leadership, or a designee, must approve the selected candidate’s packet before an offer goes out, and should hold a final executive interview. OPM’s guidance also says an interview held after the certificate is issued cannot be used to re-rank the certificate. A quiet month after a good interview may simply be an approval queue.

Certificates can also be shared. OPM strongly encourages agencies to check existing shared certificates before starting a new hiring action, so a referral can lead to contact from an office you did not apply to. That is legitimate, but it is also a moment when a convincing fake message could land. Cross-check any contact against the Notifications list in Track this application and the agency’s published contact details.

• Keep your phone and email reachable and check spam folders. Interview invitations can come with short scheduling windows.
• Reread the How You Will Be Evaluated section. The competencies listed there are what a structured interview will probe.
• Prepare two or three specific examples for each competency: the situation, what you did, and the result.
• Line up references and have license numbers and certification dates to hand.

Not selected, selected, and the gap between them

Not Selected in USA Staffing means you were not chosen and were not referred on any additional certificates. You may see it at the same time as the job status changes to Hiring complete, or you may see only the job status change. Either way, the application is finished — but your notifications may still tell you which stage you reached, which is useful for the next one.

Selected means exactly that. What follows is a tentative job offer. Once you accept it, the agency starts the background investigation, and USAJOBS says the offer becomes final only when that investigation and any additional security checks are complete; the agency then contacts you to set a start date. USAJOBS puts the time from accepting a tentative offer to starting the job at a few weeks to a few months.

Do not resign from your current job on the strength of a tentative offer. It is conditional by design. Wait for the final offer and a confirmed start date in writing.

When nothing moves: a follow-up timeline

• The day you apply: confirm the status reads Received within a few hours, and check Supporting Documents.
• From closing day to about two weeks after: do not chase your status. The agency has probably not finished reviewing and may have nothing to tell you.
• Around two weeks after closing: send a short, polite email to the contact on the announcement asking for an estimate of when review will be complete. HR cannot tell you whether you will be interviewed, who is reviewing your application, how many people applied or who was selected.
• Every few weeks after that: check the notifications inside Track this application rather than the job status column.
• If the job status changes to Hiring complete or Job canceled and your own status never moved, treat the application as closed and put the energy into the next one.
• Throughout: keep applying. One announcement is one hiring action, and every one runs on its own clock.

Keep your own records too. USAJOBS permanently removes all applications, active and archived, 36 months after the closing date. If you want a record of what you submitted — useful when a similar job reopens — print or export it before then.

A note for VA clinical applicants: registered nurse, physician and several other VA clinical posts are appointed under Title 38 rather than the competitive service rules described above, so they may not follow the rank-and-refer pattern. The announcement’s How You Will Be Evaluated section is the guide for that job.

Does Referred mean I will get an interview?

No. It means your name is on the list the hiring manager can choose from. The manager decides whom to interview, and the agency contacts only the people it wants to see.

Why does my application say Referred when the job says Hiring complete?

The job was filled, and your application status was not updated to Not Selected. The job status is the more reliable signal that the process is over. If you need confirmation, ask the contact on the announcement.

Can I find out my assessment score?

Not from OPM. The USA Hire help desk does not release individual scores or cut scores. The hiring agency may share rating or scoring information under its own policy, so ask the HR contact on the announcement.

Can I reapply if the same job is posted again?

Yes. USAJOBS says you can apply again when a job is reposted. Read the new announcement closely, because the assessments, dates or who may apply can change between postings.

Last reviewed Sep 13, 2026. First published Oct 16, 2026. Federal hiring rules change — confirm anything you act on against the agency's own announcement or OPM guidance.