I'm good at small chat.

The point of it is to get to know someone else a bit - to sort out who you have common interests with, and who you might be able to form a bond with. While talking about work you can learn a lot about a person - are they passionate about something? What is their skill set? Are they motivatedto have gotten their position, or do they just take what they can get?

You can find out a lot about someone... like me? Personally? I value stability and dedication. I thus have a stable job that requires a lot of dedication on my part (teaching). I would not be interested in getting to know someone (in a dating sense) who is working a minimum wage job and who did not pursue any further education besides highschool - I also have a value on motivation and passion.

When you're talking about someone's interests and hobbies, you also learn a lot. Do they like the same activity as you? Then you might want to spend more time with them. Are they involved in a lifestyle that doesn't mesh with yours? (Like say, from chatting you can figure out if they go out drinking all the time. If that's not your thing, you wouldn't be intersted in knowing them more).

It's a simple tool. It also lets someone know if someone else is interested in getting to know them - I know that when someone is talking about something that bores me, no matter how hard I try that will come across in the conversation. They and I will likely not engage in many more conversations. If someone shows no interest in the topics I bring up (travel is definitely one for me), then I will lose interest in that person and have no desire to talk to them again.

It's hard when you're shy and don't like small talk - but if you have no interest in getting to know the basics about someone, they'll have no motivation to let you know them on a deeper level because you've already shown them that you don't like them. No one likes to be rejected, and once rejected people won't engage again. Especially about topics that are a lot more personal then the basic facts about them.