Cobbled streets, a small roundabout, an ice cream parlor - and right next to it the local funeral home. Woods and meadows all around, plus a lake - you could easily call this a natural paradise. We're in Hennickendorf in eastern Brandenburg, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from downtown Berlin. Many young people have been leaving this region to study elsewhere, for example, among other reasons.

"This year, as of October 29, we have 719 apprentices, that is there are still 250 vacancies," said the managing director of the Frankfurt an-der-Oder-based Chamber of Crafts, Uwe Hoppe. "We are in a position to train more people, and our local factories are also willing to do just that."

The lack of skilled workers has long ceased to be merely a theoretical problem. Small handicraft businesses in particular are desperately looking for young talent.

Many vacancies remain empty, also in the Hennickendorf-based vocational training center. It's here that in modern workshops apprentices are trained, some of them future master craftsmen or craftswomen. Affiliated to that center is a 60-bed guesthouse with a canteen which offers full board.

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