👨💻 Industry
IT
📈 Company Size
11-20 employees
🗂️ Position Hired
Project Manager
💰 Savings
$50k annually
“Her work ethic is better than anyone else on my team’s — barring myself.”
Brad Smith runs Bramar Strategic Services, an IT consulting firm that helps companies overhaul their technology infrastructure, automate manual processes, and improve data quality. Think: IT strategy, assessments, governance, compliance, managed services. The kind of work where a single project can touch every department in a client’s organization.
The business was growing. Client work was stacking up. And Brad was stuck doing two jobs — delivering the work AND managing the projects.
He needed a Project Manager. Someone who could talk to clients, take detailed notes, keep Jira updated, run weekly reports, and drive projects through to completion. Someone client-facing, organized, and capable of working across external and internal teams simultaneously to manage the entire operation.
He’d always hired in the US. This time, he went overseas.
Here’s why.
The US Work Ethic Problem: Why Brad Stopped Hiring Domestically
Brad didn’t come to HireUA because he wanted to save money. He came because he couldn’t find anyone in the US who would actually work.
His words:
“US work ethic has gone down significantly. Even when you pay premium rates and you think you’re going to be able to attract higher work ethic, higher self-motivated type of candidates — you can’t get that. It’s a needle in a haystack.”
Brad had been hiring domestically for years. He watched the decline happen slowly over the past decade — then watched it fall off a cliff around 2019.
He described the current state of US hiring like this:
“You can’t even hire people. You can’t pay people to do work. You used to have someone show up for a high-level service and they’d kind of wing it and get something done and leave. And you’re like, oh well, that really expensive thing I just paid for does not look like it was done well.”
This wasn’t a cost-driven decision. This was a quality-driven one.
Brad knew that Eastern Europe had a reputation for stronger work ethic. He’d seen it historically. He just hadn’t pulled the trigger on an overseas hire before.
HireUA was his first time hiring outside the US.
19 Days: From Deposit to Offer
Brad paid his engagement deposit on January 14th. Our team set up the search immediately — sourcing candidates who had project management experience in IT consulting, were comfortable on client-facing calls, and could work US Eastern time.
The role wasn’t a generic PM position. Brad needed someone who could:
- Gather requirements directly from clients on calls
- Keep Jira Cloud and Confluence updated in real time
- Present weekly status reports to external clients
- Create, refine, and innovate on SOPs and documentation
- Coordinate between external client teams and internal delivery teams
- Work across Slack, Jira, Confluence, Notion, AirTable, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams
That’s a lot of tools and a lot of communication surface area. This wasn’t a behind-the-scenes coordinator. This was a front-line project driver who would represent Bramar to its clients.
We submitted candidates. Brad interviewed. By February 2nd, he’d made his offer.
19 days. Deposit to signed offer.
And here’s what Brad said about the speed compared to US recruiters:
“Far faster than I’ve ever gotten even one candidate from a US side — let alone five.”
He set up a Calendly link, told us when he was available, and that was his total involvement in the sourcing process. Minimal lift on his end. He even noticed interview invitations showing up on his calendar over the weekend — our team was working while his wasn’t.
“Very high marks. No complaints. And honestly on that particular side, no comments for improvement.”
The Results: 15-18 Hours Per Week Given Back
The hire was Mira. Eastern European. Part-time Project Manager.
And she started outpacing Brad’s expectations immediately.
“I’m having to work harder myself to keep up with her rate of getting through things that I assigned,” Brad said. “It’s more of a balancing act of me realizing — hey, all the stuff that I need her to take over is still in my head, and I need to take the time to get it out.”
That’s the mark of a great hire. Not someone who waits for tasks. Someone who finishes them faster than you can create them.
Here’s the thing:
Mira was doing something Brad’s US hires never did. She was researching things she didn’t know — without being prompted. If she hit a gap in her understanding of a client’s system or a process, she went and figured it out on her own. No hand-holding. No “what should I do next?” Just initiative.
Brad estimated she was giving him back 15-18 hours per week. For a CEO who was simultaneously doing delivery work and project management, that’s not a convenience. That’s a structural change in how the business operates.
And her work ethic?
“Her work ethic is better than anyone else on my team’s — barring myself.”
That’s not “she’s fine” or “she’s meeting expectations.” That’s: she’s the best person on the team who isn’t the founder.
For Brad’s first-ever overseas hire, that’s a hell of a result.
The Money: 50-55% in Annual Savings
Brad broke it down simply.
A part-time Project Manager in IT consulting in the US runs about $70,000-75,000 per year. That’s for someone who may or may not have the work ethic you need, may or may not be self-motivated, and — based on Brad’s decade of experience — is increasingly likely to just “wing it.”
Through HireUA, he’s saving 50-55% on that number. Roughly $35,000-41,000 per year.
For context: The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median salary for project management specialists at $100,750 per year as of May 2024. That’s full-time. For a part-time PM in a specialized field like IT consulting — with client-facing responsibilities, Jira proficiency, and SOP creation skills — Brad’s $70-75K estimate for a US hire is conservative.
But here’s what the savings number doesn’t capture:
Brad had been paying “premium rates” domestically and still getting candidates who underperformed. He was spending money AND getting worse results. The ROI on this hire isn’t just the salary delta — it’s the delta between someone who researches on their own initiative versus someone who shows up, wings it, and leaves.
That gap doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet. But it shows up in everything else.
Why This Worked: First Overseas Hire, Best Team Member
There’s a pattern we see with clients who’ve never hired overseas before. They’re skeptical. They’re expecting a communication gap. They’re bracing for the learning curve.
Brad had all of those concerns. He’d only ever hired in the US. This was entirely new territory.
But get this:
His internal team — our recruiters Anna and Valentina — knew the moment they sourced Mira that Brad would pick her. Before the interview even happened. They looked at the resume, talked to her, and said: “He’s going to choose her.”
They were right.
What made this work wasn’t magic. It was specificity. Brad needed a PM with IT consulting experience, client-facing communication skills, fluency in a specific tool stack, and the ability to work EST hours. We didn’t send him generalists. We sent him candidates who matched the actual requirements of the job — not a watered-down version of it.
And Mira didn’t just match. She exceeded.
The stuff that was “still in Brad’s head” — the institutional knowledge, the client relationships, the processes that had never been documented — Mira started pulling that out. Not by waiting to be told. By moving fast enough that Brad had to keep up with her.
For a first overseas hire, that’s about as good as it gets.
Hire a Project Manager Without the US Hiring Headaches
If you’re running an IT consulting firm, a services business, or any company where project management is the bottleneck — and you’re tired of paying premium US rates for mediocre work ethic — there’s a better way.
We source, vet, and place Project Managers from Eastern Europe and Latin America who can handle client-facing communication, complex tool stacks, SOP creation, and cross-team coordination. Part-time or full-time. At 50-55% less than US rates.
For the full breakdown on what to look for when hiring a Project Manager, read our complete guide here.