As automation and AI transform the job market, one truth is becoming clear: not all skills age equally. The future of hiring isn’t about soft versus hard skills anymore — it’s about durable versus perishable ones.
Recognizing this shift, Waterloo-based HR technology company Plum has released the Plum Durable Skills Index (DSI), 2025 North American Edition — a comprehensive snapshot of workforce strengths across 82 cities in the U.S. and Canada. The index, derived from 59,000 participants and 2.5 million assessment responses, identifies the most prevalent durable skills in each region and connects them to corresponding job roles.
In Kitchener-Waterloo, for example, communication, embracing diversity, and persuasion emerged as the top durable skills — aligning with roles such as software developer, UX designer, and customer success specialist. In Calgary, the data highlights decision-making, execution, and innovation, reflecting the city’s rapidly expanding tech and energy sectors.
“Our research reveals that every city has its own signature strengths,” said Caitlin MacGregor, Plum’s co-founder and CEO. “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.”
From “Soft Skills” to Durable Strengths
The focus on workforce skills — from hiring to development and succession planning — has intensified in recent years. While perishable skills like AI coding frameworks or specific software tools may lose relevance as technology evolves, durable skills such as communication, adaptability, and decision-making underpin long-term performance because they are tied to how people think, relate, and lead.
Historically, these capabilities were labeled “soft skills,” a term that often understated their business value. Plum’s validated talent model reframes them as durable — measurable, transferable, and predictive of success across industries and roles.
The company’s research identified ten durable skills shaping the future of work: adaptation, communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, embracing diversity, execution, innovation, managing others, persuasion, and teamwork.
A Data-Driven View of Human Potential
Plum’s insights are powered by its award-winning Plum Role Model™, an AI-driven job analysis tool that converts any job description into a behavioral benchmark within seconds. Covering more than 40,000 job titles, Role Model helps organizations identify which durable skills matter most for a given role — for instance, teamwork, communication, or execution — and match candidates accordingly.
The goal, says MacGregor, is to bring precision and predictability to human potential. “We’ve seen the durable skills conversation take hold in higher education. Now it’s time to bring it front-and-center into the workplace, where understanding and closing the durable skills gap can be transformative for both employers and employees.”
Why It Matters for the Future of Work
For employers, the Durable Skills Index provides new data to guide talent acquisition and development strategies. Companies can identify the local strengths of their regional workforce and design upskilling or recruitment programs accordingly. For job seekers, it offers a roadmap to understanding which skills are most valued — and most portable — across cities and sectors.
The message is clear: as technology continues to evolve, the most enduring advantage in the modern workforce isn’t what you know — it’s how you think, collaborate, and adapt.