Course list

Based on the research and expertise of John Hausknecht, Ph.D., you will evaluate the possibility of working with or without a system, identify the properties and benefits of different systems, and explore different approaches to performance management. Steps to mitigate risk will be outlined, common rating and feedback errors will be examined, and support in delivering feedback will be provided.
  • Apr 22, 2026
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  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026
  • Jul 15, 2026

The conversation around employee pay has changed over the years from one of base salaries, bonuses, and cash compensation, to a “total rewards” approach that seeks the right blend of monetary and non-monetary elements that will engage each employee while generating valuable business results.

Cornell University ILR School faculty Linda Barrington and Diane Burton are the thought leaders behind Cornell's prestigious Institute for Compensation Studies. This team of authors offers a learning experience that applies evidence-based, social science approaches to the field of compensation. This course will equip you with the tools and insights needed to apply a “total rewards” view to compensation that aligns with your organization's strategic goals and operational realities.

  • Apr 8, 2026
  • Apr 22, 2026
  • May 6, 2026
  • May 20, 2026
  • Jun 3, 2026
  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026

Drawing on their deep knowledge of labor relations and conflict management, Professors Alex Colvin and Harry Katz guide students through a series of activities that apply labor relations concepts to their own workplace (or a workplace with which they are familiar).

The course examines the regulatory and organizational labor relations environment and assesses the current state of relations between management and workers. Students learn how to prepare for possible labor disruptions and look at effective negotiations and conflict management. Videos by Colvin and Katz, backed up by additional interviews with industry experts, provide informative content that assists students as they complete a five-part course project aimed at applying the concepts in a practical manner.

While union environments are a significant focus of the course, many of the concepts can be applied to non-union environments as well.

 
  • Apr 22, 2026
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  • Jul 15, 2026
HR professionals need to adapt to changing objectives and market conditions to recruit, select, and retain employees with the necessary skills to further organizational goals—all while steering clear of legal and other risks. Professor Hausknecht draws on his research, teaching, and consulting experience in staffing to provide a relevant and rigorous overview of the field. He offers numerous practical examples to help build the skills needed to staff modern-day organizations and grounds his recommendations in the latest research findings.
  • Apr 8, 2026
  • Apr 22, 2026
  • May 6, 2026
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  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026

People may assume that it's employee satisfaction or commitment to their job that promotes higher performance, but it's engagement. In this course, you will examine the foundational drivers of engagement and explore the components of successful engagement initiatives. When completed, this course will help you identify strategies for bringing about engagement in organizations.

In companies where 60-70% of employees are engaged, shareholder returns are approximately 24%. Compare that to companies where only 50-60% of employees are engaged: shareholder returns are as low as approximately 5%. Similarly, teams with high engagement experience 4.1% turnover, as opposed to approximately 14.5% turnover for teams with low engagement.  These figures clearly illustrate the significant impact that managers and HR professionals can have if they better understand what impacts the engagement of employees.

  • Apr 8, 2026
  • Apr 22, 2026
  • May 6, 2026
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  • Jul 1, 2026
In this course, you will learn when training is the right course of action and how you can design and deliver instruction to meet your training needs. Professor Bradford Bell of Cornell's ILR School will take you from the analysis stage to the evaluation stage, as you explore training within your organization. In the process, you will conduct your own analysis, create a training plan, incorporate instructional events that facilitate training transfer, and determine evaluation methods and measurements for your program.
  • Apr 8, 2026
  • Apr 22, 2026
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  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026
In this course, you will learn about perceptual and psychological processes that impact the way that individuals interact with people who are demographically dissimilar from them. You will examine psychological processes that impact personnel decision making within organizations. This understanding will help HR professionals to design better practices and will help line managers to more effectively leverage the potential among employees from diverse backgrounds.

The course will also help you understand why “Diversity” is now often referred to as “Diversity & Inclusion” by explaining what inclusion is and how it differs from diversity. Why is inclusion so important, and what are its building blocks?
  • May 6, 2026
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  • Jun 3, 2026
  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026
  • Jul 15, 2026
  • Jul 29, 2026
In this course, developed by Professor Diane Burton, Ph.D. of Cornell University's ILR School, you will learn the skills necessary to reassert your HR role as a trusted, neutral advisor to employees at all levels within your organization. Students will develop coaching skills and learn how to foster a coaching culture while managing organizational HR needs with the most effective response for each situation.
  • Apr 8, 2026
  • Apr 22, 2026
  • May 6, 2026
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  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026
This course develops the skills needed to be an effective internal HR consultant, based on the research and expertise of Christopher Collins, Ph.D.  Learn how to define the scope and nature of a consulting relationship, work with clients to diagnose problems and identify the root cause, present findings and recommendations, and determine appropriate solutions. Take a close look at implementing solutions and managing change.  By completing the multi-part course project, you'll gain practical experience by applying what you've learned to an actual or simulated consulting scenario.
  • Apr 22, 2026
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  • Jun 17, 2026
  • Jul 1, 2026
  • Jul 15, 2026

Symposium sessions feature two days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The HR Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium, in which we’ll share experiences from across the industry, inspiring real-time conversations about best practices, innovation, and the future of human resources work. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to some of the most pressing topics and trends in the HR field. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from across the industry.

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.

eCornell Online Workshops are live, interactive 3-hour learning experiences led by Cornell faculty experts. These premium short-format sessions focus on AI topics and are designed for busy professionals who want to gain immediately applicable skills and strategic perspectives. Workshops include faculty presentations, breakout discussions, and guided hands-on practice.

The AI Workshops All-Access Pass provides you with unlimited participation for 6 months from your date of purchase. Whether you choose to attend one workshop per month, or several per week, the All-Access Pass will allow you to customize your AI journey and stay on top of the latest AI trends.

Workshops cover a range of cutting-edge AI topics applicable across industries, hosted by Cornell faculty at the forefront of their fields. Whether you are just getting started with AI, seeking to build your AI skillset, or exploring advanced applications of AI, Workshops will provide you with an action-oriented learning experience for immediate application in your career. Sample Workshops include:

  • Work Smarter with AI Agents: Individual and Team Effectiveness
  • Leading AI Transformation: Bigger Than You Imagine, Harder Than You Expect
  • Using AI at Work: Practical Choices and Better Results
  • Search & Discoverability in the Era of AI
  • Don't Just Prompt AI - Govern it
  • AI-Powered Product Manager
  • Leverage AI and Human Connection to Lead through Uncertainty

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How It Works

I decided to invest in my future and work toward a career in HR. As a dad of two with a full time job, this online program gave me the chance to work when I could. It was a fantastic way for me to develop my skills and advance my career.
‐ John F.
John F.

Frequently Asked Questions

HR teams are being asked to deliver measurable business results while navigating evolving employee expectations, increased scrutiny around fairness, and ongoing pressure to hire, develop, and retain talent. In this certificate program, you will build the practical, research-backed HR foundation needed to align people practices with organizational goals.

Across 9 faculty-authored courses from Cornell's respected School of Industrial and Labor Relations, you will develop job-ready capability in the HR work that most directly shapes performance and culture, including performance management, total rewards compensation, staffing and selection, employee engagement, training and development, labor relations, inclusion and bias reduction, coaching, and internal HR consulting. You'll practice applying what you learn through structured, multi-part projects and receive guidance and feedback from an expert facilitator as you translate concepts into real workplace decisions.

If you are early in your HR career or moving into an HR role and want a rigorous, hands-on program that helps you make better people decisions with confidence, Cornell’s Human Resources Management Certificate is designed to help you get there.

You are not simply watching content and taking quizzes on your own; this certificate is built around a cohort-based learning model where you learn with a small group of professionals and apply Cornell faculty-designed frameworks to practical HR decisions.

Unlike typical self-directed online courses, this program emphasizes:

  • Expert facilitation and personalized feedback on your project work so you can strengthen how you apply HR concepts in real situations
  • Applied, multi-part projects that mirror the work HR professionals do, such as designing performance management and staffing systems, diagnosing engagement drivers, or developing an internal consulting plan
  • Interactive learning design that blends short video instruction with activities, discussions, and live sessions that help you test your thinking and learn from peers
  • Evidence-based content developed by Cornell ILR School faculty, grounded in social science research and real organizational examples

The result is a structured experience designed to help you build practical HR capability you can use immediately, not just earn a credential.

This certificate is designed for professionals who want a strong, practical foundation in modern human resources management.

It is a strong fit if you:

  • Are a line-level HR professional with less than 5 years of experience and want to build core HR competencies
  • Are aspiring to move into an HR role and want structured, job-relevant skill development
  • Work in a for-profit, nonprofit, or government organization and need HR tools you can apply in your own context
  • Support managers or teams and want to improve how your organization hires, develops, rewards, and engages employees

The program is designed to be accessible for early-career HR professionals while still being rigorous and applied.

You will complete applied, multi-part projects in each course that help you practice making real HR decisions, using tools and frameworks you can bring back to work. Past learners have completed projects such as:

  • Designing a leader-led change plan to increase adoption of an AI support tool, using a targeted pilot, consistent messaging, and clear utilization metrics to sustain behavior change
  • Negotiating and revising work assignment and overtime guidelines in a unionized hospitality setting to reduce grievances while protecting service levels and operational flexibility
  • Building a developmental performance management system for a fast-growing organization using multi-rater feedback, behavior and results criteria, manager calibration, and bias-resistant documentation
  • Creating a training needs analysis and learning-transfer plan for frontline supervisors that strengthens coaching, conflict resolution, safety leadership, and workload planning through roleplay and follow-up observation
  • Auditing promotion decisions and evaluation language to reduce unconscious bias by shifting to standardized rubrics, evidence-based criteria, and diverse review panels with accountability tracking

These projects are designed to help you move from understanding HR concepts to implementing practical solutions that fit your organization’s goals and constraints.

You will build core HR capability across performance, rewards, staffing, engagement, development, inclusion, labor relations, and internal consulting so you can contribute more effectively to people decisions that impact business results.

After completing the Human Resources Management Certificate, you will:

  • Train managers on how to deliver effective performance feedback, rate employees accurately, and mitigate legal risk
  • Recognize and apply elements of the Total Rewards Framework
  • Analyze labor relations environments, understanding regulatory and organizational elements and how they affect relationships among management, unions, and employees
  • Identify effective planning, recruitment, and selection practices to align selection and staffing strategies with business strategies
  • Diagnose root causes of suboptimal levels of engagement among different employee groups and identify hypotheses about appropriate solutions
  • Choose training methods, technologies, and content that are appropriate for the learner population
  • Recognize unconscious bias and how it impacts the way that people perceive, evaluate, and react to others
  • Launch an internal consulting relationship based on a written or verbal contract

Students typically describe this program as highly practical and career relevant, with a clear structure that is manageable alongside full-time work. Many report that the coursework helps them translate research-backed concepts into real workplace decisions right away, and they value the engaging mix of short videos, readings, scenarios, and activities. Learners also frequently mention timely, constructive facilitator feedback, opportunities to reflect with peers, and takeaway tools such as templates and frameworks that they're able to reuse at work. Overall, students often say they finish feeling more confident and better equipped to approach HR challenges with a more structured, informed perspective.

In addition, because eCornell represents the pinnacle of premium online professional education, participants of eCornell’s programs often experience long-term career transformation such as promotions to more senior roles, salary increases, improved networking opportunities, and successful career transitions.

This certificate includes 9 short courses, with each course running 2 weeks. In practice, you can expect a manageable weekly rhythm that fits around full-time work. Learners typically spend about 3 to 7 hours per week, depending on the course and the amount of time you choose to spend on the applied project work.

Most course activities can be completed on your schedule, and you will have the opportunity to join live sessions that add interaction and help you apply concepts with support from your facilitator and peers.

Students typically describe this program as a highly practical, career-relevant learning experience that’s easy to fit into a busy schedule while still feeling rigorous and meaningful. Many say the coursework helps them translate research-backed concepts into real workplace decisions — often noting that they can apply tools, frameworks, and strategies immediately in their current roles (especially in people management and HR-related work).

A few themes come up consistently:

  • Practical, job-ready content that feels directly applicable
  • Clear structure that’s easy to navigate and follow
  • Flexible online format that supports working professionals
  • Engaging mix of short videos, readings, scenarios, and activities
  • Realistic projects and case-based exercises that reinforce learning
  • Helpful, timely, and constructive facilitator feedback
  • Knowledgeable facilitators who make complex topics approachable
  • Opportunities to reflect, discuss, and learn from other professionals
  • Takeaway tools (templates, worksheets, frameworks) students reuse at work

Overall, students often say they finish the program feeling more confident, better equipped with actionable methods, and able to approach real workplace challenges with a more structured, informed perspective.

Yes. The Human Resources Management Certificate is designed to support early-career and aspiring HR professionals who want to build core HR competencies across the employee life cycle.

You will be guided through structured, applied projects and real-world scenarios so you can practice foundational HR work such as staffing and selection, performance management, total rewards, engagement, training design, and bias-aware decision making. If you do not currently work in HR or do not have access to certain data in your organization, several courses provide realistic cases you can analyze instead, and you can mask sensitive details in your submissions.

Yes. You will build practical capability in labor relations, including how to map key players and structures, assess the current labor relations climate, prepare for possible labor disruptions, and support more effective negotiations.

You will also learn conflict-resolution approaches that apply in both union and non-union environments, including how grievance and dispute-resolution systems work and how employees respond to conflict when they feel they do not have effective voice channels.

You will learn practical ways to design and implement HR practices that are clearer, more consistent, and better supported by evidence. This includes reducing common rating and feedback errors in performance management, strengthening job-related selection practices, and identifying where unconscious bias can distort how equivalent behavior is evaluated.

You will also examine equity and transparency considerations in compensation and learn how regulatory context and due process systems shape employee relations and conflict outcomes. While this certificate does not provide legal advice, it will help you ask better questions, build stronger documentation and decision processes, and partner more effectively with stakeholders.