Program Overview

Experience a Dynamic Learning Environment

This six month MBA-level virtual certificate program is designed exclusively for senior-level Executive Search and Leadership Consultants. The program takes participants through a rigorous learning experience by applying cutting edge theory and industry best practices to their client assignments. Cornell University’s ILR School professors will take an integrated approach to teaching, which will include virtual lectures, interactive learning, group activities and case studies.

A World-Renowned Partner in Executive Education

Cornell’s ILR School, with its exceptional faculty of leading scholars in management and leadership issues, is uniquely positioned to provide insights into the challenges facing today’s business organizations.

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“The Cornell program encourages seasoned executive search and leadership consulting professionals to revisit their approaches to business development, client counseling, Board development, and candidate assessment. This is not for the new consultant, but for the experienced consultant who has a platform that he or she thinks can go to the next level.”

Alicia Hasell
Managing Partner, Boyden, Houston, USA

The following organizations have participated in the program:

Abrahams Executive Search, Alberta Corporate Human Resources, Amrop, BluEra, BoardWalk Consulting, CA Technologies, Boyden, BuysideResources Inc., Capstone Partnership, CareerSMITH, Contevenca, Davidson Recruitment, ECS Partners International, Executive Access, Executive Source Partners, Fesa, Fortune Hill Executive Search, Harvard Group International, Heidrick & Struggles, Hobson Leavy, Hodges Partners, IMS Talent Ltd, InTell Executive Search, Invesco TRANSEARCH, IRG Executive Search, Jebsen & Jessen, Dr. Bjørn Johansson Associate, Kast & Partners, Kerridge & Partners, Korn Ferry, Krebs, Lock Search Group, Lordstone Corporation, Mandrake, McIntyre Global Executive Search, Merc Partners, Metin Mitchell, Odgers Berndtson, Omera Partners, Osser & Osser, Preng & Associates, Raines International, RGF Executive Search, Saxton Bampfylde, Slayton Search Partners, Spencer Stuart, Stanton Chase, Stratos Executive Search, Sullivan Search, The Buffkin Group, The Executive Source, TRANSEARCH, Tyler & Company, UTMB Health/The University of Texas Medical Branch, Ward Howell, Witt/Kieffer

Board of Alumni Advisors:

Jo Baxter, Hobson Leavy
Aldo Augusto Bergamasco, Fesa
Tony Bollinger, CareerSmith
Jesus Castillo, Contevenca | IIC Partners
Eduardo Comella, ECS Partners International | Cornerstone International
Anneke Ferreira, Ferreira & Associates
Carrie Hobson, Hobson Leavy
Alicia Hasell, Boyden
Debra Jerome, Witt/Kieffer
Geraldo Teixeira, Fesa

Cornell Faculty

Bradford Bell

Associate Professor
Christopher Collins

Associate Professor and Director, CAHRS, Cornell University
Laura Georgianna

Director, Human Capital Development
Kevin Hallock

Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and Joseph R. Rich ’80 Professor of Economics and Human Resource Studies, Cornell University
John Hausknecht

Associate Professor, Human Resource Studies, Cornell University
Lisa Nishii

Associate Professor and Chair of ILR International Programs

Bradford Bell

Bradford S. Bell is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Studies and Director of Human Capital Development and Executive Education in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. He received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Maryland at College Park and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Michigan State University.

Dr. Bell teaches courses in Human Resource Management, Training and Development, and Work Groups and Teams to graduate and undergraduate students. Dr. Bell worked in the management and organization development department of First USA Bank/Banc One and has worked as an HR consultant for multiple private and public firms.

Dr. Bell is a member of the Academy of Management, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, American Society for Training and Development, and the Society for Human Resource Management.

Christopher Collins

Christopher J. Collins is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Director of CAHRS in the ILR School at Cornell University. He earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Collins' teaches, conducts research, and does consulting in the areas of strategic human resource management, the role of HR practices and leadership in driving employee engagement, and the role of HR in driving firm innovation and knowledge creation. His research has been accepted for publication in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Human Resource Management Review, and Human Performance. In addition, Dr. Collins serves on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Management, and Personnel Psychology.

He currently teaches courses in Human Resource Management, Organizational Consulting, and Business Strategy to masters and undergraduate students in the ILR School at Cornell University. Dr. Collins has taught executive development programs at Cornell University and the Society of Human Resource Management. He has also worked as a private HR consultant or conducted executive development programs to multiple Fortune 500 organizations and several startup organizations. His consulting work has primarily focused on talent management, employee engagement, and strategic HR planning.

Dr. Collins is a member of the Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society, and Society for Human Resource Management.

Laura Georgianna

Director, Human Capital Development

Kevin Hallock

Kevin is the Kenneth F. Kahn Dean and the Joseph R. Rich Professor of Economics and Human Resource Studies in the ILR School at Cornell University. Previous Cornell positions include the Chair of the Financial Policy Committee, the Donald C. Opatrny Chair of the University-Wide Department of Economics, and founding Director of the Institute for Compensation Studies. He has been at Cornell since 2005.

He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and on the Board of Directors of Society of Certified Professionals at WorldatWork. In 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources. His current research is focused on labor markets, executive compensation, and the plan design and mix of employee compensation. His most recent book, Pay, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2012 and received the Princeton University Richard A. Lester Prize.

Kevin’s work has covered a variety of topics including executive compensation, compensation design, discrimination, compensation of persons with disabilities, strikes, the gender gap, job loss, the link between labor and financial markets, the valuation of employee stock options, compensation of leaders of for-profits, nonprofits and labor unions, retirement, and quantile regression. He has been published in a variety of outlets including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Corporate Finance, the Journal of Labor Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Public Economics, the Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management. He has co-edited four volumes on Labor Economics and two volumes on Executive Compensation. Funding for his research has come from various sources, including the American Compensation Association, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Education and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is the recipient of the Albert Reese Award for the Best Dissertation in Labor Economics from the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University and the John Dunlop Outstanding Young Scholar Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association. He previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Labor Economics and Economics Bulletin. He is currently on the editorial board of the Industrial and Labor Relations Review and is on the advisory boards of the Journal of People and Organizational Effectiveness and Compensation and Benefits Review. He earned a B.A. in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in1991, a M.A. in Economics from Princeton University in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University in 1995.

John Hausknecht

John Hausknecht is an associate professor of human resource studies at Cornell University. He earned his Ph.D. in 2003 from Penn State University with a major in industrial/organizational psychology and minor in management. He received the 2004 S. Rains Wallace Award for the best dissertation in the field of industrial/organizational psychology. Professor Hausknecht's research primarily falls within the domain of staffing and has appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology. Recent papers have examined applicant persistence in selection settings, reactions to company hiring practices, and predictors and consequences of collective-level absenteeism and turnover. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology.

Professor Hausknecht teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses on human resource management, staffing organizations, and HR analytics. He received the ILR School's MacIntyre award for exemplary teaching in 2008. Prior to academia, he worked as a consultant to Fortune 500 firms in the areas of leadership assessment, talent management, and organizational change. Professor Hausknecht is a member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and Society for Human Resource Management.

Lisa Nishii

Lisa Nishii joined the faculty of the Human Resource Studies department at the ILR School, Cornell University after receiving her Ph.D. and M.A. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland, and a B.A in economics from Wellesley College.

Nishii is an expert on inclusion in organizations. Her research focuses on the confluence of organizational practices, leadership behaviors, and climate for inclusion on individual- and group-level outcomes. Using multi-level and multi-method research designs across a number of large-scale federally funded projects, she has found that leaders play an important role in shaping inclusion. In particular, the extent to which leaders role model inclusive behaviors, clarify the learning and innovation benefits of diversity for the group’s work, and set strong norms related to interpersonal interactions, determines the inclusiveness of their workgroup climates. In turn, workgroup climate has important implications for the authenticity of the relationship that group members develop, the positive versus negative quality of relational ties, the information that is shared among group members, the extent of conflict that is experienced, and ultimately the creativity, financial performance, and turnover rates associated with these groups.

Nishii actively publishes in top-tier journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Science, and serves on the editorial boards for AMR, AMJ, and JAP. She is currently the Chair of the Academy of Management’s Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division, and the Chair of the ILR School’s International Programs. She serves on a variety of college and university-level councils for diversity, globalization, and engaged learning. Nishii also consults with multinational companies, primarily related to diversity and inclusion and organizational assessment.

Course Schedule

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BUSINESS STRATEGY AND MARKET POSITIONING

Learn how firms can create value in the eyes of their customers by reviewing their business proposition, customer needs, and packaging to identify innovative services and positioning that can give a competitive advantage.

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DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION LEADERSHIP

Consultants will share perspectives on diversity and inclusion and study examples of how leading organizations have made the shift to inclusion at organizational, managerial, and work group levels in an effort to fully engage employees, partners and customers to be more competitive globally.

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TALENT MANAGEMENT AND SUCCESSION STRATEGY

Gain an understanding of how a firm manages its leadership pipeline and how talent is being managed and developed globally to quickly understand the primary approach that a company has adopted and how that may affect their options in the talent marketplace.

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EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES

Learn how executive assessment is typically used in leading firms, how those evaluations affect career progression, and the pitfalls to avoid when these processes are poorly handled. Popular assessment options will be examined to determine how they could be weighed by the client firm and how to interpret results fairly.

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NEGOTIATIONS AND INFLUENCE

Learn some of the most successful frameworks and practices for complex, multi-party negotiations to arrive at successful outcomes by understanding how to balance often competing goals with integrity and insight. Engage in learning exercises that will yield valuable insights to apply in everyday practice.

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BUILDING TRUST IN CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS

Gain insights to the trust-building behaviors that foster deep personal engagement between the consultant and the client by developing an empathetic understanding of the client’s interests and how to serve them to deepen and expand the relationship.

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BECOMING A TRUSTED ADVISOR

Learn how to advance meaningful business relationships through deep client understanding and demonstrated expertise. Strengthen rapport, increase the collaborative nature of client interactions, and produce high impact results.

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EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND TOTAL REWARDS

Learn key considerations pertaining to total rewards, and provide a framework to understand an executive compensation package, negotiating points, and opportunities to analyze marketplace alternatives.

FAQs

Who Should Enroll?

The program is designed for senior-level Executive Search and Leadership Consultants. If you are looking to advance your skills as a trusted advisor and move your business forward, this program will be an excellent choice in helping you navigate your future course. AESC will review each applicant’s experience to maintain the appropriate level of participants in the program.

What is new for the 2017 program?

The program was offered in a state-of-the art virtual learning environment for the first year in 2016, offering enhanced access to more AESC members worldwide. The program also featured a greater focus on leadership consulting, offering participants in-depth insights and actionable practices to expand or strengthen their leadership consulting services. The 2017 program will build on this success. Download the registration form here and email to bglade@aesc.org.

How is the Content Delivered?

The program is delivered over six months. Individual courses will be offered each month in a live virtual format. The live sessions will require a 4 hour time commitment and you should expect to spend another 2-3 hours a month on self-study that will include readings and assignments.

When Does the Program Begin and End?

The 2017 program will begin globally in January and end in June.

When is the deadline to register?

The official enrollment deadline is October 1, 2016. However, we will accept registration on a rolling basis until the course begins or is completely full. You should reserve your spot as soon as possible as the program is filling quickly.

What is the cost of the course?

The cost of the course is $7,500 per participant for AESC members and $8,500 for eligible non-members. Save $500 with the early bird rate, ends September 30th, 2016! Group discounts may apply.

How do I register?

Download the registration form and email to Brian Glade at bglade@aesc.org.

What are the technology requirements?

A reliable wired internet connection and a computer with speakers is required.

How much interaction will there be with the faculty and other participants?

During each class session you will have the opportunity to chat with faculty virtually and to interact with other participants. In addition to the live chat functionality you will also be asked to participate in online discussion forums. Throughout the program there will be other opportunities to work in groups and to collaborate with colleagues offline.

What happens if I am unable to attend a session?

You should make every effort to attend the live virtual sessions since this is the best way to stay engaged and participate in the group discussions, however in the event that you cannot attend due to a conflict, the sessions will be recorded, and you will have the ability to view them beginning a day after the live virtual event.

Are there any admission requirements?

This program is designed for consultants from AESC member and qualified nonmember firms. There is an expectation that you are actively engaged and have at least 10 years' professional experience, including time as a search consultant. Consultants that are new to the profession are not eligible to enroll in the program.

Will participants be tested or graded?

Throughout the program, live polls and homework assignments will test your comprehension of the course materials.

What type of credential will I receive upon completion of the program?

You must complete the program requirements in order to earn a certificate from the AESC and Cornell ILR School. The AESC will visibly promote the value of the certification to its members and the client community.

What are past participants saying about the program?

"The Cornell-AESC Advanced Certificate in Executive Search and Leadership Consulting program was a valuable part of my development as a search consultant and one that I would recommend to others in the field. The topics were both relevant and tangential to business issues that I regularly confront, and the instructors bring a good balance of real world experience and teaching capability to the program. Having a chance to interact with an engaged peer group that represented a broad spectrum of experiences and cultures was particularly valuable. "

- John Sparrow, Director, BoardWalk Consulting

"This program helped me not only to understand the change in clients’ needs towards advice in strategic talent analysis and management but also equipped with all necessary knowledge and tools to add value to the clients."

- Igor Kabuzenko, Managing Partner, Ward Howell

2017 Program Registration is Now Open

Savings of $500 with the early bird rate, ends September 30, 2016!

$7,000 Early Bird Rate until September 30

$7,500 Standard Rate after September 30

$7,000 Member Group rate (2 or more from the same firm or network)

$8,500 Nonmember Standard Rate

$8,000 Nonmember group rate (5 or more from the same firm or network)

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Advanced Certificate in Executive Search & Leadership Consulting

Offered by AESC in partnership with Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations