ELLSI Personality Assessment

ELLSI is a comprehensive 100-item personality assessment built on the Five Factor Model — the most researched and validated framework in personality science. With over 10 years of use in hiring and coaching programs, ELLSI measures how people experience the world across five core dimensions and delivers actionable reports for selection, development, and team building.

The Five Experience Domains

ELLSI frames personality as how you experience life — each factor captures a core dimension of that experience:

Emotional ExperienceHow you respond to demands and pressure — from highly reactive and urgent to confident and even-tempered
Life ExperienceHow you approach structure and control — from spontaneous and open-minded to conscientious and dependable
Learning ExperienceHow you engage with ideas — from practical and hands-on to curious, big-picture, and drawn to new concepts
Social ExperienceHow you relate to others socially — from reserved and introspective to interactive and influential
Interpersonal ExperienceHow you engage with people one-on-one — from direct and analytical to empathetic and warm

Why "Experience"? Most personality assessments label you with abstract traits. ELLSI takes a different approach — it describes how you actually experience the world: how you handle pressure, how you learn, how you connect with people. This framing makes results immediately relatable and easier to apply, whether you're using ELLSI for hiring decisions or coaching conversations.

Report Options

ELLSI offers multiple report types to match your use case:

Hiring Report
Factor interpretations, candidate fit analysis, and structured interview questions tailored to the individual's profile
Coaching Report
Factor interpretations with reflection questions, vision statement, goal-setting framework, and action planning
Archetype Report
Comprehensive ~20-page profile identifying your named personality type from 40 possible archetypes, with workplace strategies and development planning

The Archetype Report identifies your two most prominent experience domains and generates a named profile with detailed insights on communication, relationships, and motivation. Archetype content is being integrated into the Coaching Report as well.

40 Personality Archetypes

ELLSI goes beyond five standalone scores. Your report identifies your two most prominent experience domains and combines them into one of 40 distinct archetype profiles — a named personality type that captures how your strongest dimensions interact. This gives you a richer, more nuanced picture than factor scores alone.

Here are some examples:

The Grounded Anchor
High Emotional + High Life Experience — composed, dependable, and a steady presence under pressure
The Thought Leader
High Learning + High Social Experience — intellectually curious and energized by sharing ideas with others
The Warm Connector
High Social + High Interpersonal Experience — thrives on meaningful relationships and building community
The Creative Free-Spirit
Low Life + High Learning Experience — imaginative and open-minded, favoring exploration over structure
The Quiet Confident
High Emotional + Low Social Experience — self-assured and reflective, leads through calm presence
The Systematic Innovator
High Life + High Learning Experience — combines disciplined execution with creative problem-solving

These are 6 of the 40 archetypes. Your report identifies your specific profile and explains how your two strongest experience domains interact — including workplace strategies, communication style, and development opportunities.

Key Features

Five Factor Model

Built on the most researched and validated model of personality in science

10+ Years in Practice

Proven track record in hiring programs, coaching engagements, and leadership development

Percentile Scoring

Results compared against working adult norms (~2,500 professionals)

Multiple Report Types

Hiring, coaching, and archetype reports — choose the right format for your purpose

Applications

  • Pre-employment screening and candidate selection (all position levels)
  • Leadership development and executive coaching
  • Team building and dynamics
  • Self-awareness and personal development
  • Succession planning

Assessment Process

  1. Setup: Partner creates assessment order and selects report type
  2. Invitation: Participant receives email with assessment link
  3. Completion: 100 items, approximately 15-20 minutes
  4. Scoring: Automated percentile scoring against working adult norms
  5. Report: Instant PDF report with factor interpretations and practical guidance

Research Foundation

ELLSI is built on the Five Factor Model (Big Five) — the most extensively researched and validated framework in personality science. Decades of peer-reviewed research demonstrate that these five broad dimensions reliably predict workplace performance, leadership effectiveness, and team dynamics.

Key Research

  • Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44(1), 1–26.
  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.
  • Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the Five-Factor Model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417–440.
  • Goldberg, L. R. (1990). An alternative "description of personality": The Big-Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(6), 1216–1229.
  • Hurtz, G. M., & Donovan, J. J. (2000). Personality and job performance: The Big Five revisited. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(6), 869–879.
  • Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 765–780.
  • McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52(5), 509–516.
  • Salgado, J. F. (1997). The Five Factor Model of personality and job performance in the European Community. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(1), 30–43.

These studies represent a fraction of the thousands of published papers supporting the Five Factor Model across cultures, industries, and applications. The ELLSI brings this research foundation into practical hiring and coaching tools.

Bilingual: English & Spanish

The ELLSI Personality Assessment is fully bilingual (English/Spanish), including all items, instructions, reports, and email communications. This makes it ideal for organizations with multilingual workforces.

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