Workday is the hiring system behind most large employers' postings, and it is the one people complain about, with reason. It needs an account, one per employer, and the application runs over five pages: start, my information, my experience, application questions, voluntary disclosures, then review. The resume upload on page one tries to fill the experience page and gets the dates wrong about a third of the time. The reward for the effort is a candidate home that shows your status, which no other common system gives you.
Key points
- One account per employer, at
company.wd1.myworkdayjobs.comor a nearby number. A password manager is not optional. - Five pages. Save as you go. The session times out.
- The resume parse fills "my experience". Check every date and every title it wrote.
- The application questions page holds the knockout questions. Read each one twice.
- Candidate home shows the status after you apply. It is the one system that tells you.
The pages
| Page | What it asks | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Create an account or sign in, upload a resume or "autofill with resume" | A second account for the same employer, because the first password was lost |
| My information | Name, address, phone, email, how you heard | The address format for the country |
| My experience | Work history, education, skills, websites, the resume file again | The parse: wrong dates, wrong titles, a role split in two |
| Application questions | Work authorisation, relocation, salary, the employer's own questions | Knockout questions answered fast |
| Voluntary disclosures | Demographics, veteran status, disability | Optional |
| Review | Everything, with a submit button | Submitting before reading "my experience" |
The parse does the typing. You do the reading, line by line, on page three.
The account
Each employer's Workday is a separate instance with its own accounts. Your account at one company does not exist at another. Use the same email everywhere, store the passwords, and if you forget one, reset it rather than creating a second account. Two accounts at one employer with the same email is the common cause of "an account already exists" errors.
The parse
"Autofill with resume" on the start page reads your file and fills the experience page. It reads a one-column resume with plain headings well and anything else badly. Common failures: a role's end date set to the start date, a job title that picked up the company name, a bullet turned into a separate role, and the education year missing.
Go through page three line by line. Fix every date. The dates on this page are what the background check compares against, and a date the parser mangled is a date you submitted.
The questions page
The application questions page is where the knockout questions live: "Are you legally authorised to work in this country?", "Will you now or in the future require sponsorship?", "Are you willing to relocate?". A wrong answer ends the application without a person reading it. Read each one twice. Answer truthfully, because the answers are checked at the offer.
Employers add their own questions here too, sometimes short answers. Write those in a text file first. The page saves when you press "save and continue", not when you type.
Candidate home
After you submit, "candidate home" lists your applications at that employer with a status: submitted, under review, interview, offer, not selected. It updates when the recruiter moves the record. It is the only common system that shows you this, and it is worth checking once a week rather than emailing.
Withdrawing is a button on the same page.
The common errors
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| "An account with this email already exists" | Sign in, or reset the password. Do not make a second account. |
| The session expired and the pages are empty | Sign in again. Anything saved with "save and continue" is still there. Anything on the current page is not. |
| The resume upload fails | A PDF under five megabytes with a text layer. The guide on ATS-friendly resumes has the rules. |
| "Please complete all required fields" with no field marked | A date field with a partial date on page three. Open each role. |
| The page does not scroll or the button does nothing | A different browser. Workday and some privacy extensions do not agree. |
On this site
Tailor rewrites your resume and cover letter against the posting before you open the form, so the words you paste in are the ones the posting used. When you send it, add the row in Track, with the ATS score you sent it at. We do not fill the form for you: the pledge on this site says we will not apply on your behalf.
Questions
Why does it ask me to upload the resume and then type it all again?
Because the form fields are what the system stores and the file is a convenience. The parse is meant to bridge them and does, partly. Page three is the application. The file is an attachment.
Can I save and come back?
Yes, with "save and continue". The draft is on candidate home as an unfinished application. It stays for a while, not forever.
The posting says the application is closed but the form is open. Which is right?
The form. Workday closes the form when the requisition closes. A posting copy elsewhere is stale.
How long until the status changes?
The guide on how long until you hear back has the timelines. Workday statuses move when the recruiter moves them, which is weekly at most employers.
Does "not selected" mean a person rejected me?
Sometimes. It is also the status a knockout question produces, with no person involved. If the application was rejected within minutes, it was a question.