On May 9, 1960, N. Nazarbayev began his career at the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant. Here he went through a good school from the worker of the department of Domenstroy of the Kazmetallurgstroy trust, the furnaceman of the furnace shop of the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant, to the second secretary of the Karaganda Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. Due to the materials of the periodical press of the 1960s, many of which were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the authors were able to clearly reconstruct the chronology of the events. The authors cite the original texts of the articles and notes of the Soviet periodical press, which contained information about N. Nazarbayev. An analysis of the articles of Soviet periodicals allowed the authors to conclude that in the 1960s, the furnaceman N. Nazarbayev established himself as a responsible activist and professional worker; he was respected by his colleagues; his opinion was considered authoritative and significant among his co-workers. This is evidenced by the articles published on the pages of Soviet newspapers.