Hi There, according to the platform sitters with available dates have their calendar dates in blue/green, whereas white is not available (and crossed through being already booked). I am currently searching for a sitter for August and when I search for sitters by specific dates all the sitters that come up in the results have white calendars and each one I have messaged are not available. How do I search for sitters who are mutually searching for the same or similar dates?
Thank you for advice
Searching for sitters like this is not a good use of time/effort and rarely works out unless you have a desirable location. The better approaches to consider are:
share your housesit link on your profile and get feedback from forum members to make it more appealing
look in the Favorited Your Sit section of your profile and see if anyone there sounds like a good fit, then invite them privately to your dates with a very personalized messaged to them. If sitters have favorited your sit you already know that are interested in possibly sitting for you.
Good luck!
Sitters do not use the calendar on here. It is filled in as not available by THS when you confirm a THS sit. Not every sitter sits full time or travels only using this platform. I personally don’t want to be contacted by hosts as I would just tell them not available if I didn’t initiate the contact. How it works here is that sitters contact you when they are searching an area they want to travel to and your sit looks desirable to them and meets the time frame. Best to add your sit to your user name here so you can obtain advice that may help you get applications.
It is more effective to view your profile like you would if you were posting an AirBnb listing. You want your listing to be eye catching at first glance, interesting at a first read and welcoming on a deeper dive. Meet one or more of those criteria and sitters will find you. If their dates and yours align, some will apply. Process sitters applications as you receive them; do NOT sit on them until you have “enough” as experienced sitters with good reputations will not wait to hear back from you for more than 48 hours. So be ready to respond when an application comes in. Remember: you only need 1 good match.
Hosts generally don’t search for sitters. That’d be like sending out individual invitations to AirBnb members trying attract bookings. It might work if the stars fall into alignment but that is rare and very labor intensive. Make your listing attractive and it will do the work for you.
Thank you all
It doesn’t work out too well even if you have a desirable location.
One of my past sitters was someone who favorited my listing so I reached out to them. I wasnt satisfied with the applicants i was getting for a particular sit/dates so I branched out. It worked out well for me and they accepted and were great! 
@Sunflower I have been a sitter on this platform 8 years and I never use the calender. Most people don’t bother- it is confusing & therefore not a useful tool. THS does auto cross out days a sitter is booked on a THS sit but all the rest stays green or white.
99% of invitations we receive we have to decline- mostly the sit is simply not appealing to us or the dates and location don’t work. We know what we are looking for and that’s what we apply for. If you see we have favourited your listing (for future reference) it does not mean we are available for your current listed dates. It often happens that as soon as we favourite a listing the HO invites us. But if we wanted to apply we’d have done so!!
The best approach is to make your listing as appealing as possible and wait for interested sitters to apply.