Kimberlyn is an experienced leader in recruitment with over 16 years of diverse experience within Robert Walters. She is currently the CEO of Robert Walters Recruitment in Southeast Asia and manages operations in six countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines.

In a conversation with the Global Woman Leader Magazine, Kimberlyn talks about the importance of gender diversity in leadership, discussing key strategies for making recruitment gender-neutral. While AI is a useful tool, her focus remains on empowering women and fostering inclusive hiring practices.

Given the current market dynamics in Southeast Asia, how do you see the staffing and recruitment landscape evolving over the next few years, particularly in the context of economic uncertainty and technological advancements?

Technology has significantly influenced recruitment, providing tools that help us search and connect with candidates faster through platforms like email, online services, and LinkedIn. Automation tools have also improved our efficiency with repetitive tasks. As a recruitment firm, we embrace technology, using it to enhance our efficiency and free up time to focus on our core strength: building relationships with clients and candidates. Understanding their aspirations and motivations is crucial because it's what we represent to the market.

In times of economic uncertainty, candidates may feel unsure about job hunting, making a close relationship with a trusted recruitment firm even more important. Proper use of technology allows us to dedicate more time to relationship-building.

With Southeast Asia’s rapid economic growth, how can companies reshape their recruitment strategies to ensure they are not just filling leadership roles but fostering environments where women can truly thrive?

There are two key aspects: recruitment strategies and creating environments where women can thrive. First, it's crucial to ensure that recruitment strategies are fair, unbiased, and transparent, encouraging applications from both male and female candidates. Organisations should make vacancies known internally to give everyone an equal opportunity to apply, rather than making selections based on personal connections.

Beyond recruitment, the workplace environment plays a significant role in women's success. It's essential to cultivate a work environment that supports women, including those with families or those returning to work after becoming parents. Policies should encourage women to speak out, network, and provide tools for mentoring and sponsorship. These factors are vital in ensuring women are recognised and able to advance in their careers.

In an era where AI and automation are transforming recruitment processes, how can these technologies be harnessed to break down barriers for women in leadership, while avoiding potential biases?

AI is a powerful tool in recruitment, enabling faster candidate searches based on skills, experience, and potential rather than subjective criteria. Properly used AI can help mask identifying factors like name, gender, and age, reducing bias in the recruitment process.

For example, there are AI tools that assist in writing job advertisements free from gendered language, making them more appealing to a broader audience. We once advised an engineering company with a predominantly male workforce on using such tools to attract more female applicants. By carefully choosing words and images in their job adverts, they were able to create a more gender-balanced applicant pool.

What steps should be taken by staffing firms to promote inclusive hiring practices in Southeast Asia?

As a recruitment firm, we always advise our clients to thoroughly review their recruitment processes. Recruitment is the first step in an employee’s journey, so it’s crucial to ensure the experience is positive, fair, and equitable. For example, having an all-male interview panel can be uncomfortable for some women. We recently had a client who wanted to attract more female engineers and requested a diversity audit. This audit included reviewing the number of women in their organisation, their hiring practices, and even the language and imagery used on their website. The aim was to identify whether these factors were inadvertently attracting more men than women. By auditing the entire processes—from the interview environment to the communication about the company—we help promote a more diverse workplace. Our goal as a recruitment firm is to challenge traditional views and unconscious biases, encouraging our clients to recruit in a more inclusive and equitable manner.

Challenging biases and assumptions, whether they are gender-based, cultural, or race-based, is also crucial.  It allows people from diverse backgrounds to be represented. As a recruitment firm, we have access to many women leaders, and we play a role in encouraging them to pursue leadership roles. Often, women hesitate, questioning whether they are ready for big jobs. Our role is to reassure them that they have the necessary skills and should go for it.

Looking at industries outside of recruitment, are there any innovative practices or models that you believe could be adapted to enhance the recruitment and development of women leaders in Southeast Asia?

I'm a fan of the concept of a blind CV, where the CV is anonymised—no name, no gender—allowing it to be evaluated purely on its merits. This approach helps to eliminate biases based on gender. Additionally, focusing on skills-based hiring is crucial. Instead of just looking at a candidate's past achievements, assessments should identify their potential capabilities, even if they haven't yet demonstrated them in their career. This opens up more opportunities for candidates who might otherwise be overlooked. Finally, it's important to educate clients on cultural differences. For example, in Southeast Asia, candidates may emphasise teamwork by saying 'we' instead of 'I,' which contrasts with the more individualistic language common in Western cultures. As recruiters, it's our responsibility to help clients understand these nuances to ensure a fair hiring process.