What Are the Top Skills in Your City? Plum Unveils New Skills Index for Employers and Job Candidates
Unique Research Underscores the Importance of Prioritizing Durable Skills That Build Better Workforces
NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Revolutionary pre-hire assessment provider Plum today announced the Plum Durable Skills Index, 2025 North American Edition. Derived from the voluntary participation of more than 59,000 respondents across 27 industries and 300 job categories, the Plum DSI features the findings of the company’s validated talent model.
The focus on workforce skills – whether in talent acquisition, talent development or succession planning functions – has intensified significantly in recent years. Perishable skills are those that lose relevance as technology evolves or industries shift, such as the current requirement for AI expertise. More foundational are durable skills that underpin long-term performance because they are tied to how employees think, relate to others, and lead. Historically, due to a lack of a scalable validated methodology before Plum’s solutions and corresponding metrics, durable skills were casually referred to as “soft skills.”
Plum’s top ten durable skills include adaptation, communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, embracing diversity, execution, innovation, managing others, persuasion, and teamwork. The Plum DSI examines how these skills are shaping the future of work across North America, from major metropolitan areas, including Boston and San Francisco, to rapidly growing cities such as San Antonio, Texas and Calgary, Alberta.
Plum CEO Caitlin MacGregor commented, “Our research reveals that every city has its own signature strengths. Las Vegas leads in conflict resolution, teamwork, and adaptability, while New York excels in persuasion and embracing diversity. By connecting these durable skills to the jobs best suited for them, we’re helping people make smarter, data-driven career moves for wherever their next opportunity takes them.”
Part of the underpinning of Plum’s innovative research is Plum Role Model™, an award-winning, first-of-its-kind automated job analysis solution. Using advanced AI, Role Model turns any job description into a behavioral benchmark in seconds, covering over 40,000 job titles, helping fix the risk of mismatches formed by subjective outputs and outdated processes. By revealing the durable skills a role requires, such as teamwork, communication, or execution, Role Model builds on top of Plum’s predictive prowess and creates data-driven match criteria for hiring. Validated across roles and industries, Role Model is explainable, auditable and defensible, delivering the rigor today’s organizations need.
MacGregor added, “We’ve previously observed the durable skills conversation in higher education. Plum has brought this essential element of business success front-and-center into the workplace, where understanding and closing the durable skills gap can be transformative for employers and employees.”
The Plum DSI can be accessed on a complimentary basis here. For additional information about the research, please contact research@plum.io.
About Plum
Plum transforms talent strategy through the power of durable skills. Its talent assessment helps organizations improve quality of hire and build a skills-based workforce by measuring the core competencies that drive performance and potential.
Plum for Hiring delivers science-backed insights that improve speed and accuracy in talent acquisition. Plum for Employees supports internal mobility, engagement, and development with the same data-driven foundation. Together, these solutions give companies a clearer picture of both new candidates and existing team members, enabling smarter talent decisions across the employee lifecycle.
To improve hiring precision and boost employee impact, visit www.plum.io to get started.
Note to editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners. Media Contact: Kate Achille The Devon Group for Plum kate@devonpr.com
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