........................
Well, no.
By "good", I meant a recruiting firm that has a solid grasp of local business conditions - i.e. a nice flow of serious leads - and which deals with "talent" in a straight-on manner (for example, giving you a fair assessment of the market conditions, your chances within those conditions and so on).
Now, what you're describing sounds more like a company that's trying to present itself as a consulting firm - no doubt for some reason having to do with how they approach clients (perhaps they believe it's more 'prestigious' to self-present as a consulting outfit instead of a headhunter) and how their books are done.
I'm sure they're deriving some sort of benefit (perhaps shady) from structuring things this way.
In my neck of the woods - the greater Philly metro area which absorbs S. Jersey, the financial district of Wilmington Delaware and the sprawling burbs west and east of the old city - what you described is usually done via a 1099, contract employment arrangement or, as in my case, you're actually hired by the consulting firm as an employee receiving sick, vacation and holiday pay and also, most critically, are kept employed on "the bench" between gigs (there's an unofficial three month grace period if you've been strongly billable but like most other elements of employment management whim determines if that's shortened or lengthened).
The situation your partner got into does not appear to be a 1099, contractual deal (or perhaps it is, after a fucked up fashion and they added an onerous 'pay me' clause to make leaving - and, therefore, cutting their income stream from the client - as painful as possible).
I've never encountered anything like this though it's far from shocking.
Re: Morton Salt...
Oh, the tales I could tell about Morton International and Rohm and Hass Chemicals, a merger I observed (and, from a technical end, helped facilitate) at close range.
Each workday was an exciting new lesson in creative selling at the multi-billion dollar level, the science, politics and money of the old super fund program, how much shouting and cursing can occur during a conference call when real money's at stake and what happens to an exec who's caught exploring the magical deliciousness of his doe-eyed assistant within the spacious, sun kissed, Swedish modern decorated walls of his corner office.
What loud, rage and lust-filled, tremendous days those were.
.d.
My needs are simple: solid gold house, rocket car and crazy stripper wife.
Is this too much to ask?
Chester ...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/