For 50 years, Northern Community Development Services (NCDS) has helped Rainy River District residents work on their resumés, cover letters, and prepare for job interviews, and while they’ve been celebrating all year, on Nov. 5 their official birthday took place with a cake cutting and celebration.
To celebrate the milestone the organization formed a committee to plan different events and celebrations, says Executive Director Nicke Paddock.
“So we had a 50th anniversary committee, and part of that was ‘What are we gonna do for the community and for our clients, and what are we doing?’” Paddock said.
“We put together some stuff to make a legacy video, working with Travis Glowaski and Inga and making a legacy video of just some of the important things we’ve done. We’ve posted Throwback Thursdays of old videos of what we’ve done. We put together a budget to do a facelift on the front, there’s still more to come for that. So we just thought it was time to revitalize our front. It was getting old. And we’ve had client appreciation days and barbecues and cake. So it’s been a celebration year, actually.”
In addition to the facelift to its façade, the organization has also increased one of its community efforts.
“So we offer two bursaries for high school students called the Making a Difference Bursary, the students write an essay about how they’ve made a difference though what they’ve done in the community, through volunteering then we all pick the winners,” Paddock said.
“We increased our bursaries from $500 to $1,000 as part of the 50th anniversary year.”
They also had a mural painted inside the office by local artist Raena Saunders to brighten things up.
Looking to the future, Paddock says the organization has been in the process of learning how to use artificial intelligence to help its clients in their job applications. Many companies have automated software that filters out candidates before they’re ever seen by human eyes, so knowing how to create resumés and cover letters which will help their clients get seen by hiring managers rather than just filtered out by AI is crucial. Despite the rise in AI generation and filtering, everything still needs to have a human element as well.
“We’re adapting to that by using AI writers,” Paddock said.
“AI writing programs, but not fully. We always still expect you to have your own personal spin on it that it works for you, and that it’s used in your voice so that you still sound like you when they interview you, right? And being in this field of work, you can tell a complete AI-written cover letter and resume. So you don’t want it to be that either, you want to have your own personal touch.”
