Workday is the hiring system behind the careers pages of many of the world’s largest employers. You can usually tell you are on one from the address in your browser, which contains myworkdayjobs.com.
It has a reputation for being slow, and that is not your imagination. Each employer runs its own Workday site, so the account you made for one company does not work at the next, and nothing you typed carries over. This guide walks through a typical application from the Apply button to Submit. Employers can change the details, so yours may have a step more or less, but the shape is nearly always the same.
Before you start: what to have ready
- Your CV as a file, usually PDF or Word. Use one saved from a document rather than a scan, because the form reads the text inside it.
- The month and year you started and left every job, and the same for your studies. Workday asks for dates that way for every entry.
- A short description of each role. You can paste it from your CV.
- A cover letter and any other documents the posting asks for. They are uploaded on the My Experience step, and on many employers’ sites that is the only place you can add them.
- Somewhere safe to keep a password. You will create a new account for almost every employer, and a password manager saves a lot of “Forgot password” emails later.
- About half an hour for your first Workday application. It gets quicker once you know the shape of the form.
The Apply button: which option to choose
Press Apply and most Workday sites offer a choice. Not every employer shows every option.
- Autofill with Resume. You upload your CV and Workday tries to fill in your work history and education from it. It is quick when it works, but it is easily confused by columns, tables and unusual headings, and it can split one job into two, merge two into one, or lose dates.
- Apply Manually. Every field starts empty and you fill them in yourself.
- Use My Last Application. Shown only if you have applied to this employer before. It brings back what you entered last time, documents included, and you can change any of it.
- Apply with LinkedIn. Some employers offer this too. It imports your profile, and it needs the same checking.
Which one? If you have applied to the same employer before, choose Use My Last Application. Otherwise Autofill with Resume saves time, as long as you leave a few minutes to correct what it gets wrong. If your CV has two columns, tables or graphics, Apply Manually is often quicker than fixing the result.
Using Draftloop? Choose Apply Manually. Draftloop fills the empty form from your Draftloop profile, which you have already checked, and it never overwrites a field that already has something in it. If Workday’s own CV reading fills the form first, its mistakes stay where they are.
Creating your account
Next, Workday asks you to sign in or create an account with this employer: an email address, a password, and usually a box to agree to the account being created. Some employers then email you a link to confirm your address before you can carry on.
- Use the same email address every time. Each employer’s account is separate, but one inbox keeps them all findable.
- Leave any box meant for robots empty. Some account pages contain a field labelled something like “This input is for robots only, do not enter if you’re human”. It is a trap for automated sign-ups, and typing in it can get you treated as one.
Step 1: My Information
The basics: how you heard about the job, whether you have worked for this employer before, your legal name, address, email and phone number. The phone section usually asks for the type of phone and a country code as well as the number.
Watch the list fields. Some of Workday’s lists work like a search box: you type a few letters, press Enter, then pick the right option from the results. Text you typed but did not pick does not count, and the form will not let you move on.
Step 2: My Experience
This is the longest step, and the one that matters most.
- Work experience: job title, company, location, start and end month and year, and a description. For the job you have now, tick “I currently work here” instead of giving an end date.
- Education: school, degree, field of study and dates. How much of this is required depends on the employer.
- Languages, certifications and skills, if the employer asks for them. Skills are one of the search-style lists, so add them one at a time.
- Websites, such as your LinkedIn profile or a portfolio.
- Your CV, cover letter and other documents. Upload everything the posting asks for here, because on many sites you cannot add documents later in the form.
If you chose Autofill with Resume, this is where its mistakes will be. Read every job: are the dates right, is each description under the right employer, did anything get split in two? When you paste a description, paste it as plain text. Symbols copied from a designed CV, such as decorative bullet points, do not always come through cleanly.
Step 3: Application Questions
These are the employer’s own questions, and the ones to read most carefully. Typical examples:
- Are you legally authorised to work in the country where the job is?
- Will you now or in the future need sponsorship for a work visa?
- Are you willing to relocate, and what is your notice period?
- What are your salary expectations?
- Why do you want to work here?
Employers use some of these answers to sort applications before anyone reads them, so answer the eligibility questions exactly and honestly. A “yes” to work authorisation that turns out to be wrong can cost you the job later, even after an offer. Some employers spread their questions over two or three pages, so don’t be surprised if this step repeats.
Step 4: Voluntary Disclosures
Questions about gender, ethnicity and, in the United States, veteran status. They are optional, and there is usually an answer along the lines of “I do not wish to answer”. In the US these answers are collected for equal-opportunity reporting and are meant to be kept apart from the decision about you.
At the bottom of this step there is often a terms and conditions box. You have to tick it yourself to continue.
Step 5: Self Identify
On applications in the United States this is usually the government’s standard voluntary form about disability. You give your name and the date, then choose one of three answers, one of which is that you do not want to answer. On applications elsewhere you may not see this step at all.
Step 6: Review
Everything you entered, on one page. This is your last chance to change anything: once you submit, the application is locked. Check in particular:
- your email address and phone number, because that is how they will reach you;
- every job’s dates, and that your current job is marked as current;
- that your CV is attached, and that it is the right version;
- every written answer, read once more in full.
Use Back to fix anything, then press Submit. Some employers let you download a copy of your application from this page. It is worth doing, because your answers to their questions are not always visible to you afterwards.
After you submit
You should see a confirmation on screen, and usually an email. Your applications to that employer live in its Candidate Home, in the menu at the top of its Workday site. My Applications lists each one with its status, and it is also where you can withdraw one. Applications you started but did not finish are kept there too.
Because every employer has its own Workday site, there is no single place that shows all your Workday applications. Keep your own list: the company, the role, the date, and the link to their careers site.
When Workday won’t let you continue
- Look for the red message. Workday usually lists what is wrong at the top of the page and marks the field itself. Scroll up: it is often a field you passed long ago.
- A list you typed in but did not pick from. Type, press Enter, then choose an option.
- A missing date. Every job needs a start month and year, and either an end date or “I currently work here”.
- A file that is too big or the wrong type. The upload area says what it accepts. A PDF of a few megabytes or less is the safe choice.
- You were signed out. Sign back in to the same employer’s Workday site with the same email. Unfinished applications are kept under Candidate Home.
- You don’t remember the password. Use “Forgot password” on that employer’s site. Each employer’s account is separate, so the password for one will not work at another.
How Draftloop makes Workday faster
Draftloop is a Chrome extension that fills in job applications from your CV, and Workday is one of the hiring systems it is ready on as soon as the page loads. This is what it does there:
- It fills each step as it appears. When you move on to the next page, Draftloop notices the new fields and fills them, so you don’t have to start it again on every step.
- It shows you what is left. Fields it filled are marked green, and anything it was not sure about is marked amber for you rather than guessed.
- It attaches your CV as the original file, exactly as you saved it.
- It writes the answers your CV doesn’t contain, such as “Why do you want to work here?”, using your CV and the job posting. Those are marked purple, so you read them before you send them.
- It answers work-authorisation questions only when your profile settles them. It will never say you can work somewhere you have not told it you can.
- It leaves the personal things to you. Gender, ethnicity, veteran and disability questions are filled only if you chose to answer them in your profile. Terms boxes, “I certify” statements and the Submit button are always yours, and boxes meant to catch robots stay empty.
- It learns your answers. When you type an answer it couldn’t fill, it offers to remember it, so the next employer’s version of the question is already answered. It also keeps a list of where you have applied, and warns you before you apply for the same role twice.