agency wants to be consulting company and my company the supplier

[cojak]

What did the business cards say? Did they include something to distinguish you from a bona fide employee, such as "Associate Consultant" or similar?

Companies such as BT use a lot of subcontractors, all working under the BT brand name for the purpose of presenting a coherent image to the customer. That does not mean they are disguised employees of BT (they are usually bona fide employees of the subcontractor, even if the subcontractor only have one employee).

Just my name and the company. They didn’t want anyone knowing that they used contractors.

The consultancy I work for (a real consultancy) do use contractors and are open about it. They wouldn’t dream of doing that.

PS. A real consultancy has skin in the game - I have worked with the owners who themselves are C-level consultants. Recruitment agencies dressed up as consultancies are always agencies with the same feral ethics; they can’t help themselves.

[m0n1k3r]

Just my name and the company. They didn’t want anyone knowing that they used contractors.

The consultancy I work for (a real consultancy) do use contractors and are open about it. They wouldn’t dream of doing that.

PS. A real consultancy has skin in the game - I have worked with the owners who themselves are C-level consultants. Recruitment agencies dressed up as consultancies are always agencies with the same feral ethics; they can’t help themselves.

I have to admit being one of those consultancy owners (not recruitment agency). I work with executives at clients on a daily basis, have been doing it since 1994, and frequently bring a team of people to deliver what we have agreed. The team is usually a blend of associated consultants (e.g. contractors) that we work with over and over again, and perm staff. I might not spend more than one day a week on that particular client, but I'm most definitely part of that team. The recruitment agency-type consultancies are diluting the value of working with a proper consultancy and just simply brings confusion to clients, who eventually believe that unless you are Bain or McKinsey, you are a recruitment agency "consultancy".

The reason I asked is because we do give associated consultants business cards, but the title makes it quite clear that it is an independent subcontractor, and we do not try to pamper over the fact that they are not perm staff - the client will find out anyway, sooner or later.

Once in a while I also take short-term and especially part-time contracts through agencies, if they have something interesting to offer and the terms are right. I simply view them as an outsourced sales team.

[TonyF]

PS. A real consultancy has skin in the game - I have worked with the owners who themselves are C-level consultants.

I've worked with many people who I would have regarded as C-level. Some were also FW-level.