Name Jim McCaffery
Age 46
Job director of personnel and development, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Salary around £95,000

Jim McCaffery says HR skills are generally transferable - and he should know. Before embarking on a successful career in the NHS, he worked for blue chip private sector companies including Rolls-Royce.

He joined the health service in 1992, when the multinational company he was working for closed its London HR office. Mr McCaffery moved to Scotland to work for Grampian Healthcare, where he was director of personnel, and later deputy chief executive. He took up his current post in Leeds two years ago, following a stint at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, he entered HR because he thought it would suit his degree, a BA in social sciences.

Mr McCaffery says he has a big salary for a big job: "I'm responsible for all the change management in the organisation. The most difficult part is the level of demand and the pressure of individuals," he says. "The vast majority of people understand that things will change, but they would rather they change for someone else."

Holding on to his personnel managers is also hard: "The NHS has some of the most dedicated and competent personnel people - and other organisations know that." In an effort to beat the headhunters, Mr McCaffery is involved in a project (along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Harvard University in the US, and Manchester University) to persuade talented HR professionals they can fast track to chief executive level if they stay within the NHS.

Despite being at the heart of the trust's strategic planning, Mr McCaffery most enjoys seeing staff who have been helped to develop and fulfil their potential.