Our Range of Learning Paths is built to help meet your goals.

Certificates

Comprehensive expertise in a subject area for professional transformation and workplace impact
  • 2 to 6 months
  • $2,000 to $10,000
  • Online

Courses

In-depth exploration of a topic within a short amount of time, delivering powerful insights and practical skills
  • 2 to 4 weeks
  • $299 to $1,199
  • Online

Workshops

Rapid development of specific, actionable skills and strategies to be immediately applied at work
  • 3 hours
  • $449
  • Online

Degrees

Academic credentials requiring formal admissions, prerequisites, and multi-year commitment
  • 15 to 24 months part-time
  • Prices vary
  • Hybrid
Select a Human Resource Program that fits your needs
Explore and compare flexible learning opportunities from across Cornell’s portfolio of world-class Human Resource programs.
Certificates(20)
Courses(27)
Workshops(21)
Degrees(1)
Showing 20 of 20
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Becoming a Mediator: The Business Plan

Course
6 weeks
Online
Two of the hardest and most stressful events of a person's life can be starting a new career, and starting a business. For many aspiring mediators, including those of you interested in mediation, arbitration, and facilitation, these events will go hand in hand. Whether you've just graduated and are looking to enter the field, or you're a seasoned professional ready for a change, you'll need a solid plan for your path into this new career. This course was designed for you by Dick Fincher. Dick is a Cornell alumni, lawyer, neutral and managing partner of Workplace Resolution LLC. In the course, he shares his deep knowledge and experience in neutral work, and creating a successful business. As he shares his experience, he challenges you to leverage his advice into creating your own successful business. During this course you'll complete a project that includes the key components of a business plan, you'll then receive feedback on that project from a successful neutral already working. This work will set you up to successfully take next steps in your career that are appropriate to your unique interests and situation.
$699

Understanding Mass Incarceration and Fair-Chance Hiring

Course
2 weeks
Online
The approach to mass incarceration in the United States has created significant barriers to employment and societal reintegration for justice-impacted individuals. This complex issue requires human resources professionals to develop a deep understanding of how historical policies, systemic discrimination, and societal stigma have contributed to labor market exclusion. While many professionals have a basic grasp of the criminal justice system, a more comprehensive framework is needed to effectively address the intersecting challenges of employment access, racial disparities, and successful reintegration into society. In this course, you will examine the key factors that shape employment outcomes for justice-impacted individuals, including legal restrictions, collateral consequences, and discriminatory hiring practices. Through an exploration of labeling theory, person-centered language, and historical contexts, you'll develop critical analytical skills to evaluate systemic barriers and identify solutions. By understanding these interconnected issues, you'll be better prepared to support successful employment outcomes and broader societal reintegration for justice-impacted individuals.
$999

Onboarding for Success

Course
2 weeks
Online
In today's competitive job market, retaining top talent is more challenging than ever. High employee turnover not only disrupts team dynamics but also demands significant time and resources. A well-designed onboarding process, however, can reduce turnover, accelerate time to productivity, and strengthen long-term employee retention. Onboarding presents a strategic opportunity to align the early experiences of new hires with your organizational goals. A strong onboarding plan does more than teach employees how to perform their roles — it also fosters a sense of belonging, builds connections, and sets clear, measurable objectives that support both individual and organizational success. Drawing on extensive research, Professor JR Keller provides a science-based, practical approach to designing an effective onboarding experience. You will begin by exploring the four major domains of onboarding and their impact on employee engagement, job satisfaction, and organizational fit. From there, you will discover how to map specific tasks to milestones, build a structured plan that involves both new hires and their colleagues, and identify metrics to evaluate your plan's effectiveness. You will also explore emerging technologies that can support and enhance onboarding delivery. Whether you're an HR generalist, hiring manager, or member of a hiring committee, this course will equip you with the tools to transform onboarding from a routine checklist into a purposeful, results-driven program. By the end of the course, you'll be able to create a measurable onboarding plan that fosters early engagement, supports long-term success, and contributes to a positive and productive workplace culture.
$999

Effective Interviewing

Course
2 weeks
Online
Interviewing is one of the most challenging aspects of management, yet many leaders never receive formal training in this critical skill. Without proper guidance, we make hiring decisions based on gut feelings and casual conversations, lacking clear direction on what to look for, what questions to ask, or how to evaluate responses. The good news? There are proven, evidence-based approaches that can transform your interviewing effectiveness. In this course, Professor JR Keller draws on extensive research and real-world examples to provide a clear, three-step process for conducting interviews that enable candidates to shine while delivering reliable hiring decisions. Through practical frameworks and tools, you will design structured questions that predict job performance, create consistent evaluation methods, and implement proven interviewing techniques. The course demonstrates how to apply these principles to both in-person and remote hiring scenarios while minimizing the cognitive biases that often interfere with good decision making. Whether you're an experienced hiring manager or new to interviewing, this course equips you with concrete skills to make better hiring decisions while creating positive experiences for candidates. You will develop efficient systems for managing multiple interviews, setting candidates at ease and evaluating responses objectively. By the end of the course, you'll be prepared to transform your hiring process from conversation based to competency focused, leading to better hires and stronger teams.
$999

Neurodiversity at Work

Course
2 weeks
Online
It's estimated that approximately one in six people in the United States are now considered to be neurodivergent. Yet nearly 40% of neurodivergent adults are unemployed or underemployed compared to their age peers. Promisingly, in recent years, companies in technology and other industries have come to recognize neurodiverse individuals as a valuable workforce resource, and they have responded by actively recruiting this largely untapped talent pool. This course provides an overview of emerging Neurodiversity at Work employment programs and outlines the implications for HR policies and practices. Course topics include background information about autism and neurodiversity; models of effective recruitment, screening, and onboarding; supervisor training and support; best practices for career progression, advancement, and retention; and strategies for building a broad array of internal and external support systems.
$999

Business Strategy for HR Leaders

Course
2 weeks
Online
Can you describe your organization's approach to creating unique value for customers? What are the internal drivers that set your organization apart from competitors as you meet customer needs? In this course, you will examine why it's important for HR leaders to study an organization's unique value-creating strategy. You'll explore how an organization's investment in core competencies enables it to deliver value to customers, and you'll discover how to identify core competencies at your own organization. You'll also consider how your organization can work to support its core competencies. You'll review how other organizations build and support a value-creating strategy and determine how you might apply their practices to your organization. You'll investigate external trends that may impact the ongoing effectiveness of your strategy, and you'll delve into strategies to help identify growth opportunities for your organization.
$999

HR Strategy

Course
2 weeks
Online
Can you identify and address complex HR challenges to ensure your organization is fully achieving its desired outcomes? How do you guarantee that your employees have the right skills, abilities, motivation, and opportunities necessary to meet those objectives? Throughout this course, you will define what HR strategy is and what it looks like at different levels of an organization. You will examine how to identify key employee groups related to HR challenges then address those challenges using a systems approach. Through the use of tools like the Balanced Scorecard, you will discover how to communicate and justify your HR strategy to leaders and business partners.
$999

Building Diverse Talent Pools

Course
2 weeks
Online
Your talent pool represents all of the potential candidates you can hire for a job. As the first step of the hiring process, it is the first critical indicator of whether your hiring process is inclusive. A diverse talent pool is one that encompasses the many potential candidates on the market who could successfully apply for a particular role at your organization and mitigates areas of bias that often prevent marginalized candidates from joining and staying in the talent pool. Without a diverse talent pool, you cannot interview a diverse array of candidates and hire those candidates to create a more inclusive and representative workforce. By eliminating bias in the hiring process, your organization can build a diverse talent pool and create the foundation for inclusion, from recruitment all the way through to retention and success. In this course, you will establish what diversity and inclusion mean in relation to the hiring process and specifically how they connect to building diverse talent pools. You'll also evaluate your organization's sourcing methods for opportunities to establish more inclusive talent pipelines. You will then enhance your company's messaging to attract a diverse array of candidates and address sources of bias in the initial screening processes that your organization uses for early-stage job candidates. Finally, you'll explore different methods for measuring the effectiveness of your inclusion-based recruitment strategies. These methods will help you create an inclusion-centered approach to hiring that will broaden your talent pool and create more opportunities for your organization to hire candidates of marginalized identities and experiences. It is strongly encouraged for students to take this course first, unless they have a strong amount of hiring and DEI experience.
$1,199

Conducting Effective Employee Relations Conversations

Course
2 weeks
Online
Employee relations is an increasingly important role within the HR function. Maintaining positive employee relations helps boost morale, reduce conflict, and raise workforce productivity. In this course, you will develop an understanding of how to best facilitate relationships between an organization and its employees, employees and their managers, and employees and other employees. You'll be introduced to the Effective Employee Relations Conversations framework, which enables HR professionals to conduct effective conversations with team members at all levels of the organization. Throughout the course, you'll have an opportunity to apply key components of this framework by working through a variety of practice activities.
$1,199

Collective Bargaining Foundations

Course
2 weeks
Online
This course establishes a foundation in collective bargaining, with a focus on identifying and analyzing key aspects of a contract and how they relate to your role. You will gain insights into the bargaining process and what happens when negotiations break down. Those insights will prepare you to assess contracts and determine the requirements for administering its key components.
$1,199

Disability at Work

Course
2 weeks
Online
In this course, you will learn how to make a focus on disability an explicit part of your overarching business strategy. Starting with a broad overview of the role HR professionals play in addressing workplace disability issues, you will learn about important areas for proactive attention that contribute to people with disabilities thriving in the workplace and minimize disability discrimination across the employment process. You will discuss the importance of workplace and workforce participation for people with disabilities, employers, and the business case for aligning a focus on disability with a company's strategic human-capital, talent management, and customer-service imperatives. You will also dive into the implications of effective HR policies and practices in the recruitment and hiring process, career development and retention initiatives, and compensation and benefits programs. Finally, you will utilize metrics and analytics to measure progress on effective disability workplace policies and practices to realize the benefits of maximizing the participation of talented people with disabilities in your organization.
$999

Employment Law Mediator Training

Course
6 weeks
Online
This intensive training program equips participants with knowledge and skills essential for successful employment mediation. A comprehensive blend of substantive law and training in mediation process skills prepares participants to become qualified mediators for employment disputes. By the program's completion, you will be well prepared to become a qualified employment law mediator. The Employment Law Mediator Training program focuses first on employment law that is applicable to employment mediation, then on in-depth role-playing to help you learn and practice the skills to facilitate the process. Instruction is now available online for the one-month asynchronous knowledge building, followed by the synchronous five-day online training.
$2,195

Ethics in Mediation and Arbitration

Course
6 weeks
Online
Strong ethical awareness is an essential competency for mediators and arbitrators. Alternative Dispute Resolution is no longer a risk-free environment for mediators and other neutrals. As codes of conduct and grievance processes proliferate and second-guessing and litigation increase, you must become better aware of the variety of ethical dilemmas you will face. Ethics in Mediation and Arbitration improves your ethical awareness and develops your competency for addressing sticky ethical situations. In this course you'll gain the clarity about the ethics of neutral roles and practice techniques to apply in practice. Sarah Miller Espinosa, a skilled neutral and expert in ethics, will guide you as you explore complex and real situations and cases that present ethical challenges. This work will prepare you to act ethically in your work as a neutral.
$699

Essentials of HR Analytics

Course
2 weeks
Online
Analytical skills are becoming a crucial job requirement for HR as organizations strive to become more data-driven. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of analytical talent to meet this need. Less than 20% of companies identify as having a strong HR analytics function in their business, and over 75% of HR professionals reported difficulty recruiting for essential data analysis positions. To remain competitive, organizations need to rapidly upskill their HR talent. In this course, students will develop and sharpen HR analytics skills as they analyze and visualize data to inform recommendations and decisions. Drawing on his experience and research, John Hausknecht, Professor of HR Studies at Cornell's ILR School, guides students through key steps in identifying insights from HR data and analysis. Students will review HR data, identify key questions that drive the analytical process, and explore basic calculations for correlation and regression. Taking this a step further, students will mindfully interpret findings, looking beyond data as they take a holistic view of the situations they encounter. Through a course project, students will design a presentation and create visualizations of essential HR data to communicate findings to key decision makers. This course does not assume students have prior analytical training or knowledge, nor does it require access to current HR data or metrics. Using Excel and datasets provided, this program equips students with the concepts, tools, and language to start their journey in HR analytics.
$1,199

Aligning Employee Performance with Organizational Goals

Course
2 weeks
Online
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.
$999

Fostering a Coaching Culture

Course
2 weeks
Online
Besides technical and legal responsibilities within an organization, human resources staff have a moral responsibility to the individuals in the organization they serve.
$999

Employee Training and Development

Course
2 weeks
Online
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.
$999

Driving Engagement for HR

Course
2 weeks
Online
Research shows that engagement is the key factor that promotes higher performance. Engagement impacts an organization's turnover rate—and its bottom line. Learn what engagement is and how to encourage it in your own organization.
$1,199

Navigating Labor Relations

Course
2 weeks
Online
This course prepares new and aspiring human resource professionals to deal with the challenges of employee and labor relations.
$999

Employment Law and Policy Issues

Course
2 weeks
Online
Human resource professionals must navigate and deal with a wide range of legal and policy issues in the workplace. They must know the responsibilities and boundaries of their own role, and they must assess issues and consult appropriate legal or expert counsel. This course will help current and aspiring HR managers and staff to establish a structured framework for systematic analysis of employee issues that may have legal implications. It focuses on the layers of employee rights, the HR role, appropriate consultation with legal counsel, and the use of a step-by-step process in the assessment of workplace issues. By the end of this course, you will develop a systematic foundation for managing employment law issues.
$1,199

Facilitating Staffing Decisions

Course
2 weeks
Online
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.
$999

Rule Systems as Designed Systems

Course
2 weeks
Online
In this course, you will examine the function of rules in your daily business operations along with the elements that make an effective rule system. As you explore the ways in which rules can protect your business processes, you'll also discover that they can make your work more efficient. In order to prepare for possible risk, you will examine how rule systems can help you identify sources of risk within your organization and serve as a tool for risk mitigation. By the end of this course, you will recognize the different elements that need to be included in a rule system and feel prepared to create your own.
$999

Getting Results Through Talent Management

Course
2 weeks
Online
Organizations today face a multitude of challenges when it comes to effectively managing their talent. In mature markets, demographic trends are forcing companies to accelerate their efforts to build a pipeline of future leaders. In emerging markets, companies must develop talent strategies that are both nimble and effective at engaging and retaining key human capital. To achieve these goals, companies need an integrated, systematic approach to attracting, developing, engaging, and retaining critical talent. Cornell University Professor Brad Bell offers a learning experience that challenges students to dig deeper into understanding their organization's key talent management challenges and uncovers solutions that can be used to overcome these challenges. This course adopts a systems view of talent management in order to demonstrate that various talent practices and processes need to be aligned to create effective solutions. It also examines current trends and cutting-edge thinking in the talent management field.
$999

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Practice for HR

Course
2 weeks
Online
The management of diversity, equity, and inclusion has evolved from "counting the numbers" to "making the numbers count." Organizations that no longer look at inclusion as having a good mix of diverse people, but as a way to fully engage employees, partners and customers have an opportunity to compete globally. Diversity, equity, and inclusion must be embedded in an organizational culture to make a positive impact on performance. This course, based on the expertise of Cornell University Professor Lisa Nishii, differentiates diversity from inclusion and how organizations often miss the real opportunity. Students assess three levels of inclusion and identify evidence that can be used for each level to assess presence and effectiveness. HR executives and leaders share their perspective on diversity and inclusion and how they made the shift to inclusion at organizational, managerial and work group levels.
$1,199

Total Rewards Compensation

Course
2 weeks
Online
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.
$999

Human Resources Leadership

Course
2 weeks
Online
More than ever before, HR managers, supervisors, and directors are expected to demonstrate technical acumen while also contributing to organizational success in many other areas. Whether it's addressing the “people challenges” of large organizational changes or speaking up to protect shared norms and values, HR professionals must now be organizational leaders as well. In this course, Cornell University's Christopher J. Collins develops insights from his research on the changing role of HR leaders into clear, actionable steps you can take to succeed in this shifting landscape. You will discover the evolving role of the modern HR leader and define what this means for your own role and your goals for growth. You will reflect on the importance of relationships to your success and examine a method by which you can strengthen your working relationships with senior leaders in your organization. You will then explore why acting courageously is key to your success as an HR leader and how to make the difficult decision of when to speak up. Finally, you will discover Professor Collins's SEE change model, the steps of which will help you to ensure the success of major changes at your organization.
$999

Using Design Thinking in HR

Course
2 weeks
Online
This course brings the time proven benefits of design thinking to the field of employment. You will identify factors affecting the workplace and the personal experience of employees. You will then use a six-step approach to analyze employee issues and develop appropriate solutions. The goal is to enhance employees' workplace experience and improve the ability of an organization to attract and retain a productive workforce.
$999

Grow Your Hr Expertise

Cornell University’s selection of Human Resources programs, including 20+ certificates, combines people-centered leadership with practical organizational strategy through expert-led instruction and small cohorts. Participants build workplace leadership capabilities through applied projects, collaborative learning, and guidance from experienced HR practitioners.

Explore Program Details
Program TypeEducational GoalCourse FormatOfferedCourse StructureDurationTotal HoursWeekly Commitment
Certificates
Comprehensive expertise in a subject area for professional transformation and workplace impactOnline cohort-based (<35 students) with expert facilitator hosting live sessionsRecurring start datesMost certificates include 4 to 8 individual courses with multiple start and end dates to select from; 360 Certificates offer over 20+ individual courses including core courses and electives2 to 6 months depending on individual course requirements40 to 100 hours3 to 8 hours per week for the duration of the certificate
Courses
In-depth exploration of a topic within a short amount of time, delivering powerful insights and practical skillsOnline cohort-based (<35 students) with expert facilitator hosting live sessionsRecurring start datesOne standalone course with multiple start and end dates to select from2 to 4 weeks depending on individual course requirements10 to 25 hours3 to 8 hours per week for the duration of the certificate
Workshops
Rapid development of specific, actionable skills and strategies to be immediately applied at workLive, online, and Cornell faculty-led with an interactive cohortSpecific dates and timesOne 3-hour short-form live program with specific dates and times; multiple Workshops offered monthly3 hours3 hoursActive participation during the Workshop only
Degrees
Academic credentials requiring formal admissions, prerequisites, and multi-year commitmentOnline cohort-based and on campus in Ithaca, NYSpecific start dates once a year, often in January or AugustA series of 2- to 15-week asynchronous online courses designed by Cornell faculty with weekly live virtual sessions, with between one and three week-long residency sessions on campus in Ithaca, NY15- to 24-month part-time program for working professionalsVary by degree15 to 20 hours per week during each online course; full-time on campus during each week-long residency

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