This is the beginning of my last week at Vets Now and I can honestly say that I will be sad to leave. Over the last 8 weeks I feel that I have integrated well in the office and genuinely feel that I have become part of the Vets Now team.

I am determined to make the most of my last week here and have loads planned! Claire and I have to finish correlating our call handling project after a week of successful teleconferences last week; I can safely say that I am now a pro at holding these after having lots of practice.

I also have to give two presentations the first one is on Thursday morning when I have to present to the rest of my team about the individual projects that I have been working on over the last 8 weeks. This has involved two main tasks:

1.       Creating a marketing plan and campaign for the conference facilities situated within the Vets Now HQ which are underutilised and could become a future revenue stream if used by external businesses. This has proven more difficult than I initially thought because people immediately associate Vets Now as being a specialist business operating highly successfully in a niche market. As a result I have had to rebrand the conference facilities within the HQ’s as the Penguin House Conference Centre (I chose this name because the building we work in is called the Penguin House). So if anyone is reading this and looking for high quality, modern conference facilities that offer an exceptional delegate rate (including catering and parking) here could be the ideal venue! (Shameless plug I know!)

2.       My second project was looking at how the Vets Now Training Function could become even more profitable and looking into finding other cost-effective marketing techniques that they could use. Earlier this year the training team changed from being a core business function to a commercial entity within the business so I have been looking at ways they could build upon this new business direction. It’s strange because while doing this I have used quite a lot of techniques, business models and theories that I have learned while studying at university. Again this just reiterates to me that my business degree is relevant to modern day business and this now coupled with first hand experience from within the industry is hopefully going to set me up well and help me progress with my professional career in the near future.

I have really enjoyed the tasks that I have been given and hope that some of the suggestions I am going to make will be useful for Vets Now and hopefully they might be able to use them in the future. The thought of having to give this presentation to my team is nerve-wracking and exciting in equal measures but it will be good to get feedback on the work I have done.

The second presentation that I am giving is on Friday morning along with the other two Saltire Interns, Claire and Abby, this time to the whole organisation(!!) about what we have learned and enjoyed during  our internship, again scary stuff, when you have everyone listening and looking at you.

Aside from my work related tasks I have pleasant things to look forward to as well. On Thursday the company Executives have arranged a leaving lunch for us all and I think at some point this week Claire, Abby and I are going to venture to Edinburgh, have dinner and see a show at the Fringe so it really is all go.

I hope everyone enjoys their week!

Until next blog ...... Tina x