Career · Food and hospitality
Waiter
Greets guests at a restaurant or cafe, takes orders and serves dishes.
Career overview
What a day looks like
A waiter greets guests, tells them about the menu, takes the order and brings the dishes. They are on the move, deal with all kinds of people and make sure guests feel comfortable.
Try it yourself this week
30 minutes
Plan a one-day menu for your family and work out the ingredients
- Choose one ordinary day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can use dishes your family already makes.
- For each dish, write down which ingredients you need and roughly how much for everyone.
- Mark what can be made in advance and what has to be made right before eating.
- Think it over and write down: what's the most boring or hardest part of this plan — for example, washing up or making the same thing again and again.
What you'll learn about yourself: Whether you enjoy planning food for other people — and whether the routine that every kitchen needs puts you off.
30 minutes
Plan a class event on paper
- Come up with an event: a board game tournament, a clean-up day, a movie night. The budget is zero.
- Write down the goal, date, place and a to-do list: who does what and by when.
- Write down three things that could go wrong and a plan B for each.
- Read the plan out loud or show it to one person. Note what you enjoyed most: coming up with ideas, sharing out tasks or reaching agreements.
What you'll learn about yourself: Whether you like bringing people and tasks together into one whole — and whether you're ready to take responsibility if something falls through.
What you can do next
Next 3 months
Plan a menu for a day
Make a menu for one day for the family and think how to describe it nicely to guests.
In six months
Practise serving
Lay the table for a family dinner and help everyone: put out the cutlery, bring the dishes and clear up.
In a year
Ask a specialist
Together with your parents, ask a waiter what a shift looks like and how they handle difficult situations.
What it pays
No verified information is available in this section yet.
Where to study
No verified information is available in this section yet.
How to get into college
College gets you a profession faster than university. You can apply after grade 9 or after grade 11.
- Colleges accept students both after grade 9 and after grade 11. After grade 9 you study longer — about 3 years 10 months; after grade 11, about 2 years 10 months. The exact length depends on the college and the specialty.
Source: kchk.edu.kz (opens in a new tab) - About 80% of students admitted to colleges in the 2024/25 school year study on a state order, which means in state-funded places (in 2023/24 it was about 70%). But each college and each specialty has its own number of state-funded places.
Source: inbusiness.kz (opens in a new tab) - There are also paid colleges. For example, training as a nurse at ADILMED costs 450,000 ₸ per year. Check the price and conditions on the college's website.
Source: adilmed.kz (opens in a new tab)
UNT: which subjects to take for university
The UNT (Unified National Testing) is Kazakhstan's national university entrance test. You need it to get into university after grade 11.
- The UNT 2026 has three compulsory subjects: History of Kazakhstan, Reading Literacy and Mathematical Literacy. On top of these, you take two profile subjects, chosen to match your specialty.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - In total, the test has 120 questions (maximum 140 points) and you get 4 hours. The format is the same as in 2025.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - Profile subjects depend on the group of specialties. For example: information technology — Mathematics and Computer Science; nursing and veterinary medicine — Biology and Chemistry; electrical engineering — Mathematics and Physics; law — World History and Fundamentals of Law. The full list is published by the National Testing Center.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - For creative specialties (for example, media and design), you take History of Kazakhstan and Reading Literacy through the UNT, and two creative exams at the university itself.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - Some universities have their own admission rules. Nazarbayev University, for example, requires a UNT score of at least 85, a GPA of 4.0 and English at IELTS 6.0 level.
Source: nu.edu.kz (opens in a new tab)
Courses and opportunities
Opportunities near this field
- ProgrammefreeAtlas of New Professions (opens in a new tab)
Минтруда РК и Центр развития трудовых ресурсов
Who it's for: everyone.
When: reference guide, always available.
Atlas of New Professions: which jobs will appear, change or disappear in the next 5–10 years. Free to read.
Checked: September 2026
Source: atlasbt.enbek.kz (opens in a new tab)
Can you work before you turn 18?
Under Kazakhstan's Labour Code, teenagers can work, but with limits.
- Usually you can work from age 16. From 15 — if you are getting basic or general secondary education. From 14 — only in your free time outside school and only light work. If you are under 16, you need a signature from a parent or legal guardian.
Source: kodeksy-kz.com (opens in a new tab) - From 14 to 16 you can work no more than 24 hours a week; from 16 to 18, no more than 36 hours a week.
Source: kodeksy-kz.com (opens in a new tab) - Under-18s must not be given heavy or hazardous work, jobs with full financial liability, night work, overtime or business trips.
Source: mybuh.kz (opens in a new tab)
History of the career
No verified information is available in this section yet.
Well-known people in this field
No verified information is available in this section yet.