The statuses mean nothing.

Most hr are lowly educated malaysian lians (they are allowed to work in Singapore's public service as long as it isn't in sensitive positions) who don't know the difference between those words, nor do they bother to change the status.

That's why you will see people saying the status on their applications remaining as one of those two forever, but in reality they have either been rejected or none of what they submitted has ever been seen by a real person.

Unfortunately this lian has the power to scan through the list of names and qualifications, and pick which she fancies. If the lian has STPM/'A' levels, she might change your status to 'in process'. If she is dumber she might leave it as 'submitted'.

Then she downloads and forwards them to the person who wants initiated the hiring. The hiring manager looks at these applications based on qualifications, work experience, age, race and gender. The lian will be ordered to call and arrange an interview for those the hiring manager fancies. If none are to liking, the lian will need to comb through the list of submissions again or check the new submissions.

If you meet the qualifications, experience, age, race and gender fit, you will be called within 2 weeks. Don't bother waiting any longer or emailing.