> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Signing up for shifts > Finding a shift you can take, choosing your hours, bringing someone with you, and giving a shift up. This is where you take a shift, or a piece of one. If you are a volunteer, press **Find a shift** in your sidebar, or the **Find a shift** button on [My shifts](/shifts/my-shifts). Staff find it by typing **Sign up** into search (see [Finding your way](/getting-started/finding-your-way)). Either way, the page is called **Sign up**. It lists the open shifts from today onward, grouped by day, and shows what you are already down for. Anyone whose role can **See** Shifts can use it. You sign yourself up here; you cannot sign up somebody else, though you can bring one person with you (see [Bringing someone with you](#bringing-someone-with-you)). ## Finding a shift Narrow the list with the boxes at the top: | Box | What it does | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Where** | Only shifts at one location. **Anywhere** shows them all. | | **Doing what** | Only shifts that need one role. **Anything** shows them all. | | **From** | The first day shown. It starts on today. | | **Until** | The last day shown. Leave it empty to see everything ahead. | Each shift shows its hours and, if it has one, its location. Under that is one line for each role the shift needs: the role's name and how it is taken. | It says | What it means | | ---------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | *the whole shift* | You take the whole shift, start to end, or not at all. | | *at least 1 hour, at most 3 hours* | You choose a stretch of the shift, within those lengths. | | *any length* | You choose a stretch of any length. | Once somebody has taken part of a role, the line also says which stretches are still **Free**. If nothing is open, the page says *Nothing open to sign up for*. ## What decides which shifts you can take A role you can take has a **Sign up** button. A role you cannot take has a sentence instead, saying why. The sentence tells you what to do next, so read it before asking anyone. | The sentence | What it means | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | *Dog walker needs training before you can sign up.* | This role needs a coordinator's approval, and you do not have it. For a role that is approved separately at each location, you need approval for this shift's location. | | *Approval for Dog walker expired on 2026-05-31. It needs renewing.* | You were approved, and the approval ran out on that date. | | *Approval for Dog walker was withdrawn. Speak to a coordinator.* | Your approval was taken back. | | *Dog walker is not being scheduled at the moment.* | Your rescue has stopped using this role for now. | | *Every place is taken.* | There is no free place left on this role. | Approvals are given on your person record by a coordinator (see [Volunteers](/shifts/volunteers)). A role that does not need approval is open to anybody. ### Checks made when you press Sign up Some things can only be checked once you have chosen your hours, so a role can show **Sign up** and still refuse. When it does, the form shows the reason and nothing is booked. * **You are already busy.** *You are already signed up for something else at that time.* This counts every shift you are on, anywhere, including ones where you came along with somebody else. * **Somebody got there first.** *Somebody already has that time*, or *All 2 places are taken for part of that time*. Choose different hours. * **Your rescue's rules.** Your rescue can limit how far ahead sign-ups open, when they close before a shift starts, how many hours you may have in a day or a week, and how many sign-ups you may have in a day. Each refusal names its limit, for example *Sign-ups open 14 days ahead. This one is further out than that.* (For how these are set, see [Volunteer roles and rules](/settings/volunteers).) * **Your account.** *That account is not linked to a person record yet, so it cannot be signed up. A coordinator has to link it.* ## Choosing your hours Press **Sign up** beside the role. A small form opens under it. For a role taken whole, the form says so and shows the shift's hours. There is nothing to choose. For a role taken in parts: | Field | What it means | | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Which stretch** | Shown only when more than one stretch of the shift is free. Choose one. | | **Start at** | When you start. Times go in steps of 15 minutes, and only times that leave room for the shortest stretch allowed are offered. | | **For** | How long you stay, in steps of 15 minutes, from the shortest the role allows up to the longest, or to the end of the free stretch. It starts on the role's shortest length, or on an hour when the role has none. | The form then says what you will be down for. Press **Sign up** to take it, or **Cancel** to close the form. Your shift now shows under the role, in green: you are down for it, with its times. It also appears on [My shifts](/shifts/my-shifts). Signing up adds the Volunteer role to your person record, and to the record of anybody you bring, if it was not there already. ## Bringing someone with you The form has a **Someone with me** box for one other person: a partner doing the shift with you, or a guardian for a volunteer under 18. They share your place rather than taking another one. Choose them, then say what they are under **They are my**: **Companion** or **Guardian**. Who you can choose depends on your role: * If your role can **See** People, you can search for anybody in People. * Otherwise the box lists only people you already know through RescueConsole: people you have been on a sign-up with before, and people whose address on their record is the same as yours. The address match needs the first line and the postal code of your own address to be filled in. Up to 25 names are listed, with a **Filter** box when there are six or more. If there is nobody to choose, the box says so. The same checks apply to everyone on the sign-up: * **Room for them.** A role can limit how many people share one place. *This role is one person per place*, or *At most 2 people can share a place on this role.* * **Under 18.** Anybody under 18 on the day of the shift needs an adult (18 or over on that day) on the same sign-up. Ages are worked out from the date of birth on each person's record, so the adult's record needs one. * **Approval.** If the role needs approval, the person you bring needs it too. The refusal starts with their name. * **Free.** They cannot already be signed up for something else at that time. ## Waiting lists There are none. When a role is full it says *Every place is taken*. A place comes free when somebody gives their shift up, so look again later. ## Giving a shift up Beside a shift you are down for, press **Give it up**. The page asks *Why are you giving this up? Optional, but it is what a coordinator sees.* Type a reason if you like, then press **Give it up**, or **Never mind** to keep the shift. What happens next depends on how soon the shift starts: * **Outside your rescue's notice period**, or when it has none, the shift is given up at once. The page says *That is given up. The time is back on the calendar for somebody else.* * **Inside the notice period**, a coordinator has to agree. The page tells you so, and that you are still down for the shift until they answer. The shift turns amber and says you are waiting on a coordinator to release it. There is nothing more to press; you cannot take the request back. A coordinator answers on [Cancellation requests](/shifts/cancellations). If they let you off, the shift is given up. If the rescue still needs you, the shift stays yours and says *You asked to be let off this one and a coordinator said the rescue still needs you*, followed by anything they wrote. You can also give a shift up from [My shifts](/shifts/my-shifts), but only this page asks for a reason.