It's very rare to be asked that question ("what do you do") as part of an introduction in basically all of Europe, or at least it's so rare that I can't recall being asked that. Maybe it has happened, but it's not that common. "Where are you from?" is an obvious one on the other hand, if I'm in a different country. I'm sometimes asked that question in Japan, but never as part of an introduction. That's something which people may ask about at a later stage. If that's related to me being a foreigner or not I'm not sure - I haven't noticed that question in between native Japanese people, but then again my Japanese is not very good.

But I'm not actually that good at getting small talk going (not do I particularly enjoy small talk), so I'm not the best person to ask about introductions. So it basically boils down to exchanging names, and, for me, sometimes about nationality, and then about whatever happens at the place we're meeting up (say, an event of some kind). And from then on we kind of figure out the other person's interests. Starting to talk about the job would be.. very dry. Negative. As if there's nothing to talk about, at all.