diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java
index 2fd11d56841..2d0cd26c6e4 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedAction.java
@@ -472,7 +472,7 @@ public class StartDatafeedAction
         JobState jobState = MlMetadata.getJobState(datafeed.getJobId(), tasks);
         if (jobState != JobState.OPENED) {
             throw ExceptionsHelper.conflictStatusException("cannot start datafeed [" + datafeedId + "] because job [" + job.getId() +
-                    "] hasn't been opened");
+                    "] is not open");
         }
 
         PersistentTask<?> datafeedTask = MlMetadata.getDatafeedTask(datafeedId, tasks);
diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportJobTaskAction.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportJobTaskAction.java
index 23b71eefbcc..e6974c27f72 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportJobTaskAction.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/TransportJobTaskAction.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public abstract class TransportJobTaskAction<OperationTask extends Task, Request
         PersistentTasksCustomMetaData tasks = clusterService.state().getMetaData().custom(PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.TYPE);
         PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.PersistentTask<?> jobTask = MlMetadata.getJobTask(jobId, tasks);
         if (jobTask == null || jobTask.isAssigned() == false) {
-            String message = "Cannot perform requested action because job [" + jobId + "] hasn't been opened";
+            String message = "Cannot perform requested action because job [" + jobId + "] is not open";
             listener.onFailure(ExceptionsHelper.conflictStatusException(message));
         } else {
             request.setNodes(jobTask.getExecutorNode());
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public abstract class TransportJobTaskAction<OperationTask extends Task, Request
         } else {
             logger.warn("Unexpected job state based on cluster state version [{}]", state.getVersion());
             listener.onFailure(ExceptionsHelper.conflictStatusException("Cannot perform requested action because job [" +
-                    request.getJobId() + "] hasn't been opened"));
+                    request.getJobId() + "] is not open"));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/MachineLearningLicensingTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/MachineLearningLicensingTests.java
index 7da87d74878..da72eafd2c8 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/MachineLearningLicensingTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/license/MachineLearningLicensingTests.java
@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ public class MachineLearningLicensingTests extends BaseMlIntegTestCase {
             if (invalidLicense) {
                 // so the license expired then job closes automatically, so an error is expected:
                 Exception e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchStatusException.class, listener::actionGet);
-                assertEquals("Cannot perform requested action because job [foo] hasn't been opened", e.getMessage());
+                assertEquals("Cannot perform requested action because job [foo] is not open", e.getMessage());
             } else {
                 listener.actionGet();
             }
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedActionTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedActionTests.java
index 3334c9a2ef4..45bd342dbd2 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedActionTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/action/StartDatafeedActionTests.java
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ public class StartDatafeedActionTests extends ESTestCase {
                 .build();
         Exception e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchStatusException.class,
                 () -> StartDatafeedAction.validate("foo-datafeed", mlMetadata2, tasks));
-        assertThat(e.getMessage(), equalTo("cannot start datafeed [foo-datafeed] because job [job_id] hasn't been opened"));
+        assertThat(e.getMessage(), equalTo("cannot start datafeed [foo-datafeed] because job [job_id] is not open"));
     }
 
     public void testValidate_dataFeedAlreadyStarted() {
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java
index 52edf7daa79..a085c629fd5 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ public class MlRestTestStateCleaner {
                     logger.error("Got status code " + statusCode + " when closing job " + jobId);
                 }
             } catch (Exception e1) {
-                if (e1.getMessage().contains("because job [" + jobId + "] hasn't been opened")) {
+                if (e1.getMessage().contains("because job [" + jobId + "] is not open")) {
                     logger.debug("job [" + jobId + "] has already been closed", e1);
                 } else {
                     logger.warn("failed to close job [" + jobId + "]. Forcing closed", e1);
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/support/BaseMlIntegTestCase.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/support/BaseMlIntegTestCase.java
index 27f5d2411fa..c403811b0e2 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/support/BaseMlIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/support/BaseMlIntegTestCase.java
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ public abstract class BaseMlIntegTestCase extends ESIntegTestCase {
                         client.execute(CloseJobAction.INSTANCE, closeRequest).get();
                 assertTrue(response.isClosed());
             } catch (Exception e1) {
-                if (e1.getMessage().contains("because job [" + jobId + "] hasn't been opened")) {
+                if (e1.getMessage().contains("because job [" + jobId + "] is not open")) {
                     logger.debug("job [" + jobId + "] has already been closed", e1);
                 } else {
                     try {
diff --git a/qa/smoke-test-ml-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java b/qa/smoke-test-ml-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java
index 52edf7daa79..a085c629fd5 100644
--- a/qa/smoke-test-ml-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java
+++ b/qa/smoke-test-ml-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/integration/MlRestTestStateCleaner.java
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ public class MlRestTestStateCleaner {
                     logger.error("Got status code " + statusCode + " when closing job " + jobId);
                 }
             } catch (Exception e1) {
-                if (e1.getMessage().contains("because job [" + jobId + "] hasn't been opened")) {
+                if (e1.getMessage().contains("because job [" + jobId + "] is not open")) {
                     logger.debug("job [" + jobId + "] has already been closed", e1);
                 } else {
                     logger.warn("failed to close job [" + jobId + "]. Forcing closed", e1);