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About
Plum is an AI-powered pre-employment assessment platform built for hiring teams who want to reduce the cost of bad hires. Instead of relying on resumes or interview performance—which research shows are poor predictors of on-the-job success—Plum measures the durable skills that actually drive performance: decision-making, adaptability, learning agility, and intrinsic motivation. For each open role, Plum builds a role-specific behavioral profile based on what traits predict success or failure in that particular job. Candidates are assessed against that profile before interviews begin, giving hiring teams objective, data-backed fit scores that focus conversations on what truly matters. Plum's models are trained and continuously validated on real hiring outcomes across thousands of roles—including revenue, technical, operational, and frontline positions—and have been shown to predict performance 4x better than a resume alone. Scotiabank, for example, doubled retention and achieved a 182% ROI within seven months of adopting Plum for campus hiring. Beyond hiring, Plum data continues to deliver value post-hire. The same durable skills insights support faster onboarding, smarter employee development, and reduced management overhead. Plum is trusted by enterprises and growing companies looking to build fairer, more effective hiring processes grounded in science rather than gut feel.
Key Features
- Role-Specific Job Fit Scoring: Builds a unique behavioral profile for each role and scores candidates against it before interviews, ensuring assessments reflect what actually predicts success in that specific job.
- Durable Skills Assessment: Measures stable, high-impact behavioral traits like decision-making, adaptability, learning agility, and intrinsic motivation—skills that remain consistent and predictive over time.
- Validated Predictive Models: AI models trained and continuously refined on real hiring outcomes across thousands of roles, demonstrated to predict job performance 4x better than resumes alone.
- Post-Hire Development Insights: Durable skills data gathered during hiring continues to power employee development, onboarding, and manager coaching long after the hire is made.
- Bad Hire Cost Calculator: Built-in tool that helps organizations quantify the financial impact of hiring failures, factoring in productivity loss, management time, and turnover costs.
Use Cases
- Replacing resume screening with predictive behavioral assessments to identify high-fit candidates before investing in interviews.
- Reducing early attrition in high-volume hiring programs such as campus recruiting, retail, or contact center staffing.
- Enabling structured, fair interviews by surfacing role-specific fit data that focuses hiring conversations on what actually predicts performance.
- Accelerating new employee onboarding by giving managers insight into a hire's behavioral strengths and working style from day one.
- Quantifying the cost of bad hires to build a business case for more rigorous, data-driven talent selection processes.
Pros
- Science-Backed Predictions: Models are validated on real-world hiring outcomes—not simulated benchmarks—making predictions grounded in actual performance data across diverse industries and roles.
- Reduces Interviewer Bias: By surfacing fit data before interviews, Plum helps teams focus on relevant job requirements rather than confidence, presentation, or unconscious bias.
- Long-Term ROI Beyond Hiring: Durable skills data continues to add value post-hire through onboarding support, employee development, and reduced management overhead.
- Proven Enterprise Results: Case studies like Scotiabank's 182% ROI in 7 months and doubled retention demonstrate measurable business impact at scale.
Cons
- Requires Organizational Buy-In: Shifting away from resume-first hiring processes requires change management, training, and stakeholder alignment that can slow adoption.
- Limited Transparency on Pricing: Pricing plans are not publicly listed; prospective customers must request a demo to understand costs, which can slow evaluation for smaller teams.
- Best Suited for Structured Hiring Processes: The platform delivers the most value in organizations with defined roles and recurring hiring volume; ad-hoc or very small-scale hiring may not fully leverage its capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are 'durable skills' and why do they matter for hiring?
Durable skills are stable behavioral traits—like decision-making style, adaptability, and intrinsic motivation—that reliably predict how someone will perform on the job. Unlike credentials or experience, these traits don't change much over time and are directly tied to role-specific success.
How is Plum different from traditional personality tests?
Plum's models are trained and validated on actual hiring outcomes across thousands of real roles, rather than relying on generic personality scores or simulated benchmarks. Each assessment is calibrated to the specific demands of the role being filled.
When in the hiring process should Plum be used?
Plum is designed to be used before interviews are scheduled. Candidates complete the assessment early in the process, and fit scores help prioritize who to interview and what to focus on during conversations.
Can Plum be used for employee development after hiring?
Yes. The durable skills data collected during the hiring assessment doesn't expire on day one. Managers and HR teams can use the same insights to support onboarding, career development, and internal mobility decisions.
Is there a free version of Plum available?
Plum offers a free Plum Profile for individuals, which provides a personal durable skills report. Hiring team and enterprise features require a paid plan, available via demo request.
