Through Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern), you can pursue an online Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Occupational Safety & Health. Earning this degree requires completing a minimum of 124 credit hours, but students can transfer in up to 90 credit hours, and courses are given in an accelerated online format. Thus, degree completion time may be far less than in a typical bachelor’s program, depending on the previous college credit you have earned.
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. Comprehensive coursework in Southeastern’s B.S. in Occupational Safety and Health covers subjects like safety program management, safety engineering, legal aspects of the field and industry-specific safety and health topics. Students gain knowledge of current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, cutting-edge industry practices and technological developments.
Getting up to date on issues and best practices in the field while earning a degree that equips you with advanced skills — and possibly certifications, as with Southeastern’s program — can strengthen your case for a new job in occupational safety, a raise or a promotion. It also enables you to interview for higher-paying positions within your company that were out of reach before you earned the degree. Plus, the flexibility and convenience of Southeastern’s accelerated online program format allows working professionals to advance their education while maintaining their busy work schedules.
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, determination and critical thinking.
Although earning a bachelor’s degree requires the investment of time and money, it’s also an investment in your future. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2022, you can earn on average $427 more per week ($22,204 more each year) with a bachelor’s degree than you could with an associate degree alone. Compared to the earnings of workers with only a high school diploma, you could earn on average over $30,000 more per year with a bachelor’s.
As well as increasing your earning potential, the bachelor’s degree opens the door to 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. Plus, by forming relationships with staff and faculty at your college, you can open the door to networking, job references and connections to job opportunities.
Earning a bachelor’s degree can also 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 you can market yourself to the specific position you are applying for. 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 and provide you with the motivation and ability to learn quickly.
The process of taking college courses, especially core classes, can help you find your specific passions and interests. Elective courses can help you further target the exact career path you would like to pursue. Being passionate about your education and your career can increase your motivation, performance, creativity and innovation in the workplace, all of which will support your career advancement in occupational safety and health.
Learn more about Southeastern’s online B.S. in Occupational Safety & Health program.