Interview: Elaine Damm, CEO, ACCU Staffing Services

Elaine Damm

CEO ACCU Staffing Services

How does demand for your services compare to prepandemic levels?

In 2019, we had incredible sales and we were doing very well. When the pandemic hit, we stayed open and never closed our doors. We still had our staff come in every day and had a limited group in each office. My father often said that we must stay in the consumer-based product businesses of food and pharmaceuticals because no matter what happens with the economy, everyone needs to eat and everyone needs their medication. Like most companies, we had a bit of a sales decrease last year but because we provided workers to our pharmaceutical and food packaging clients, we were still able to place many people out to work every day. Coming out of the pandemic, we continue to have a very strong lead in the market. Although we have more jobs available than we do people, we’re plugging along and doing very well. In fact, we have opened two new offices this year.

When do you expect the labor shortage to subside?

From a federal and state perspective, the government is continuing to fund people to stay home, which makes this a challenge. However, I can’t be too critical on the subject as we’re seeing improvements. We’ve seen an increase in our applicant flow and due to a higher volume of active job seekers visiting our offices, we have been able to fill more job openings than earlier this year.

What is your near-term outlook?

I think we’re going to continue to have strong growth in the marketplace. From our team of clients, we continue to see a lot of growth and expansion and we want to make sure that we’re there to help fulfill their needs. We’re seeing more food industries coming into the South Jersey market and the pharmaceutical industry has been steady and consistent. Our office support business is different and I feel that many companies are allowing their front office and back office executives to work remotely, which negatively impacts us. However, on the manufacturing side, we see continued growth in the long term.

Atlantic City’s particular characteristics make it a sought-after home base for law firms.

( ) professionals, according to the most recent data from economic development organization Choose New Jersey. The sector’s manpower accounts for 6.3% of the state’s private sector employment and financial services firms contributed close to 7% of the state’s overall GDP with $33 billion.

On the legal front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 32,920 legal occupations in New Jersey as of May 2020 and the sector put in an astounding performance throughout 2020. With the state’s Top 40 legal firms employing 3,277 lawyers, the sector accumulated $2.02 billion in gross revenue. The Top 5 that reigned supreme in that ranking, according to the New Jersey Law Journal, were Lowestein Sandler ($182.6 million), McCarter & English ($117.4 million), Sills Cummis & Gross ($88.6 million), Fox Rothschild ($85.4 million) and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi ($78 million).

Of those, Fox Rothschild’s main office is in Philadelphia, but it also has a presence in Atlantic City. “Atlantic City is a fantastic home base for a law firm for geographic reasons, particularly with its proximity to Philadelphia, New York City, Washington D.C. and all regions of New Jersey,” Fox Rothschild’s Eileen Muskett, managing partner of the firm’s Atlantic City office. “There also are only three multicounty litigation (MCL) courts in New Jersey, and one of them is in Atlantic City—across the