Through Southeastern Oklahoma State University, you can pursue an online Bachelor of Science in Occupational Safety & Health. This degree requires a minimum of 124 credit hours, although completion times vary.
How Can a Bachelor's Degree Further Your Safety Career?
For those already working in safety and health, you can further your career by earning a bachelor's degree. Taking classes in occupational safety and health could be the edge you need to get that promotion. The online format and flexible degree program allows working professionals to maintain their busy work schedules.
Acquiring a degree — that equips you with more skills and possibly certifications — can strengthen your case for raises and promotions. It also enables you to interview for higher-paying positions within your company that were out of reach before you earned the degree.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Bachelor's Degree?
A bachelor's degree offers many benefits: it helps you build applicable skills, opens doors to more and better career opportunities, increases your earning potential, and enhances job security.
A bachelor's degree program may seem like a lot of work for a piece of paper, but it is so much more than that; it prepares you for the most important aspects of being in the workforce by developing key skills including multitasking, prioritization, persistence and determination.
Although earning a bachelor's degree requires you to spend money, it's ultimately an investment for your future — the degree can help you get higher-paying jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can earn on average $337 more per week ($17,524 more each year) with a bachelor's degree than you could with an associate degree alone. Compared to the earnings of workers with a high school diploma, you could earn on average almost $24,000 more per year with a bachelor's.
As well as increasing your earning potential, the bachelor's degree opens the door for better — and more — career opportunities. Sometimes just having a degree is enough to get you an interview, even if the job description does not call for your exact area of study. By forming relationships with staff and faculty at your college, you can open the door to job references and connections to job opportunities.
Earning a bachelor's degree can aid job security. Higher education makes you more valuable to a company, meaning you have a higher chance of being hired and retaining a job. And because you worked so hard to earn a degree in a field you enjoy, and hopefully follow a career path that you are passionate about, your performance at work can be exemplary and invaluable to your company.
How Can a Bachelor's Degree Help You Carve Out Your Career Path?
While holding a bachelor's degree can lead to career opportunities, even ones you may not have intended to pursue, having a degree in a field you want to get a job in is even better. It means that in your job interview, you will be marketing yourself to that specific position. Through education in the field you want to pursue, you learn the hard and soft skills necessary for that role.
As in any new job, expect a learning curve that includes having to acclimate to company culture or learn company-specific software; however, you may find that your job will be more familiar to you than if you started it without a bachelor's degree. Having the specific proficiencies for your job description can help you move up quickly in the company, as well as provide you with the motivation and ability to learn quickly — both skills you gain when earning a degree.
The process of taking college courses, especially core classes, can help you find your specific passions and interests. From this point, you can even target the exact career path you would like to pursue. Being passionate about your education, and then your career, can increase your motivation, creativity, and innovation in the workplace.
Learn more about Southeastern Oklahoma State University's online Bachelor of Science in Occupational Safety & Health.
Sources:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Unemployment Rates and Earnings by Educational Attainment
Education Corner: Benefits of Earning a College Degree
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