Name Craig Piggott
Job health promotion specialist
Salary circa £16,000

If Craig Piggott had been even a few inches taller than 1.68m (5ft 6in) he might have been leading the Sunderland FC forward line. But after two years of battling with 1.90m (6ft 3in) centre halves he left his football apprenticeship and took up health promotion.

"I'd worked closely with the physio at Sunderland and learned that football is not just about talent, but also about looking after your body. I studied part-time and then did a sports degree at Manchester University which included nutrition and healthy lifestyles. I thought: 'Yeah ­ this is the field I want to get into.'"

When a part-time post came up in his current workplace, Tees and District health promotion service, he took it but had to wait over a year before he got a permanent job. At first Piggott was involved in health promotion in the workplace, highlighting the importance of smoking and drugs policies. More recently he has worked with schools and young people on sex education, drugs education and dental care. Sensitivity to parental concerns is paramount which means that sex and relationship roadshows first have to win the approval of teachers, then parents and only then, if the go-ahead is given, are they presented to pupils.

Now Piggott is studying for an MSc at Leeds University. He wants to become a health promotion specialist, and work with young people in Teesside and Darlington.