--- title: "Applying for a role, or leaving one" description: "Apply for a role marked as hiring, and leave a role you hold, with the one permission that decides whether you can leave it yourself" category: structure-governance section: roles-and-assignments tags: [permissions] type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/how-do-i-apply-or-resign-from-a-role --- # Applying for a role, or leaving one ## Applying for a role, or leaving one You apply for a role from the role's own page, and only when that role is marked as **Hiring**. Leaving works differently: there is no **Resign** anywhere in Talkspirit. The control is called **Leave**, it sits on the role's row inside the circle page, and it appears only if you are allowed to assign members in that circle. That last point is the one that surprises people, so it comes first: leaving a role needs the same permission as removing anyone else from it. If you do not have it, you cannot take yourself out, and someone who can has to do it for you. ## Apply for a role 1. Open the role's page. If it is open to applications, a **Hiring** badge sits next to its name. 2. Click the three dots in the top right. 3. Click **Apply**. ![The header of a role page named Developers with a Hiring badge, its three-dot menu open showing Apply at the top, then Copy URL, Add member, Add stakeholder, Edit, Remove hiring status, Move role, Extend role to a circle and Delete](/images/structure-governance/how-do-i-apply-or-resign-from-a-role/01-role-menu-apply.png) 4. In **Apply to** the role's name, add a **Message** if you want to. It is optional, holds up to 500 characters, and goes to the people who will read your application. 5. Click **Send application**. ![The Apply to Developers dialog: the line The people who can assign members will be notified of your application, an optional Message box with the placeholder Add a note for the assigners, and Cancel and Send application buttons](/images/structure-governance/how-do-i-apply-or-resign-from-a-role/02-apply-dialog.png) Any member can apply. There is no role or right you need first, only a role that is marked as hiring and that you do not already hold. ### What happens to your application Your application is a notification, not a record. Talkspirit tells the people who can assign members in that circle that you applied, and stores nothing else. There is no list of applications, no status to follow, and nothing on the role page changes apart from the confirmation message. The people notified are the holders of the circle's assigner roles and its circle admins. If the circle has no admin, or if it lets all its members assign, then every member of the circle is notified. Being an organisation administrator does not by itself put someone on that list: the notification stays inside the circle. If the circle has nobody who can assign, the application is refused with **No one can assign members yet. Please contact an administrator.** Apply twice in quick succession and the second attempt returns **Your application has already been sent.** If your application is accepted, someone still has to assign you to the role by hand. Applying never assigns you. ## Make a role open to applications If you can assign members in a circle, you decide which of its roles accept applications. 1. Open the role's page. 2. Click the three dots in the top right. 3. Click **Mark as hiring**. The **Hiring** badge appears beside the role's name, and **Apply** appears in the menu for everyone who does not hold the role. The same menu item then reads **Remove hiring status**. Core roles and roles invited from another circle cannot be marked as hiring. To find the roles that are hiring across the whole organisation, use the **Hiring** highlight on the organisation chart, described in [Highlights on the organisation chart](/structure-governance/understanding-highlights). ## Leave a role 1. Open the circle that contains the role. 2. Find the role in the **Composition** panel, on the right of the **General** tab. 3. Hover over its row and click the three dots. 4. Click **Leave**. ![The Composition panel of a circle listing Circle Lead, Product Manager and Developers, with the Product Manager row's three-dot menu open showing Edit role, Add member, Leave, Copy URL and Delete role](/images/structure-governance/how-do-i-apply-or-resign-from-a-role/03-role-row-leave-menu.png) You are removed immediately. There is no confirmation dialog and no reason to type. The same job can be done from the role's page: under **Members**, open the three-dot menu next to your own name and click **Unassign**. **If there is no Leave in the menu**, you do not have the right to assign members in that circle, and the server refuses the same action even if you find another way to it. Ask an administrator, one of the circle's admins, or a holder of one of its assigner roles to remove you. See [Assigning or removing a member from a role](/structure-governance/how-to-assign-or-remove-a-member-from-a-role). ### Two things to expect afterwards **Nobody is told, including you.** Talkspirit emails and notifies a person when someone else removes them from a role. That message is suppressed when you remove yourself, so leaving a role is silent. **You stay in the circle.** Leaving your last role in a circle does not remove your circle membership, and that membership carries decision-maker rights by default. Decision makers can create roles and open proposals in the circle, so you can keep real governance rights in a circle you thought you had left, with nothing on screen saying so. Check it: open the circle, go to its **Members** tab, and look for your own name. If you are listed and nothing beside it says **Non-Decision Maker**, you are still a decision maker there. To leave properly, you also have to be removed from the circle, which again needs someone who can assign members. ## What's next? - [Assigning or removing a member from a role](/structure-governance/how-to-assign-or-remove-a-member-from-a-role) - [Decision makers in a circle](/structure-governance/what-is-a-decision-maker-of-a-circle) - [Adding or removing a member without a role from a circle](/structure-governance/how-to-add-or-remove-a-member-without-a-role-from-a-circle) - [Viewing your roles](/structure-governance/how-can-i-see-my-roles)