In most cases, however, employees of a company titled as consultants are those that work with the clients of that company and are external to the client. A manager at the client company, to whom the consultant or temp reports, does not have direct authority or responsibility over the outcome of the consultant's work because they are external and are providing a service to that company. As long they are external to the company/team they are consultants, but as soon as they join the company/team they become employees/team members and are given job titles based on their skills.