When I facilitate the career-center workshops on networking, I usually begin with a brief networking-conversation opener, leading up to the question, “What do you do?”

About half the time, I get answers such as: “I was a research associate, until I got laid off.”

With an answer like that, you set an overall negative tone. You didn’t answer the question of what you do, not even what you used to do; you pinned yourself down to a position, and with a look back, still struggling to move on. That makes you a has-been. What would make people want to network with a has-been?

Here’s a variation on the type of answer just quoted: “I used to be a research associate. Now I am looking for a job as a developmental editor.”

On the surface, this sounds like goal orientation. But look at it closely: It goes from a look backwards on to something not yet attained. The worst-case takeaway message here is: has-been topped off with never-has-been. Again, do you think people will be lining up to network with someone projecting that type of image?

The person networking with you learns nothing about you from a past job title. And if indeed you got laid off, then chances are the job doesn’t even exist anymore; it may have shipped off to China, it may have been consolidated, or it may have been just plain eliminated.

The question “What do you do?” invites you to showcase the signature type of impact you make. The question goes to what you strive to accomplish. It begs to be answered with action-oriented verbs, not with static position titles—least of all, with position titles of jobs you no longer have.

Instead, focus on what you have actually done: how you have applied your competencies, how you have achieved results, and what expanded skills you have come away with. Now you may think: Wait a minute—that’s still a backwards perspective. How is that the present, let alone a look ahead?

To transcend the past, talk about what you do in the form of a story that says: “Here’s the type of endeavor I engage in, evidenced by a consistent, progressive record of accomplishments I have been building on. Here I stand ready to make my next contribution.”

Now let’s look again at the job seeker above who is looking to move from research to developmental editing. Instead of evoking in the listener the tiresome associations with all the tediums of career change, the story told in terms of action and impact could look something like this:

“I produce textbook chapters and journal articles. Specifically, I ensure the substantive content is sound and the narrative is compelling and coherent before a piece is published. To this end, I thrive in liaising among subject-matter experts, peer reviewers, and editorial professionals, until things add up. Incidentally, I am currently available for new opportunities.”

Now that sounds a lot more positive, and it is a much more spot-on answer to the question of what you do. You touch on the treasure trove of your accumulated assets, not as faded glories but as resources from which to benefit for future challenges. This type of answer is much more likely to keep a good networking conversation going.

In one of the workshops offered at the North Shore Career Center, we have a module on goal setting, where you make a “Contract with Yourself.” I can’t give away too much here, but at the basis of this “Contract with Yourself” is the concept of SMART goals:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timely

You are most likely to succeed when your goals meet these SMART criteria. From what workshop participants have reported back about the congruency of goal and actual outcome, it seems people tend to think “SMART” when they pit their goals against what they can do today, then tomorrow, then by the next deadline.

Say my goal is to “increase my brand visibility.”

Let’s look at this in SMART terms:

• The goal is vague in substance; therefore, it is hardly specific.
• There are no metrics involved; therefore, the goal is not measurable.
• With no tangibles provided or bars set, the goal is not really attainable.
• The goal does have some obvious intuitive appeal, so let’s say it is relevant.
• But it doesn’t specify a time by which it should be attained—it doesn’t even specify when to start. Therefore, the goal is not timely.

Now say my goal is to “write a blog post on best networking practices, and post LinkedIn and Twitter updates about it, by tomorrow.”

Again, let’s take a look, in SMART terms:

• With topic (substance) and media (form) clearly identified, this goal is specific.
• The posts are either there or not there, so that makes the goal measurable.
• Assuming I know the subject matter and I am comfortable navigating the media, this goal is attainable.
• It looks like this goal is relevant toward my overarching ambition of increased brand visibility.
• I am planning to do this by a certain deadline, which is close enough to suggest when to get to work, so this goal is timely.

The attainable and timely parts are in a particular functional relationship. Note the goal was not to “write a blog post on best networking practices by the end of next year”; that would seem attainable, but hardly timely: assuming a project of this caliber takes a day or two to complete, this time frame would be too noncommittal—at this point, it’s almost two years before I would even have to begin.

On the other hand, the goal was not to “write a book on best networking practices by tomorrow,” either. I hope we don’t have to belabor the cliché of “biting off more than you can chew” here. (In this context, note some people understand the R in SMART to stand for “realistic” rather than “relevant.”)

So what if the goal were to “write a book on best networking practices by the end of next year”?

Hmm…sounds somewhat realistic (with attainable and timely within apparent proportion of each other), but writing a book is a very complex project. You would have a hard time knowing how far toward attaining your goal you are at a specific point in your endeavor, say after you have: done research on a topic; interviewed a subject-matter expert; written a draft of the first chapter; and so on.

So measurability would be an issue, for one. Even so, let’s be optimistic and say you finish the book five months before (!) the end of next year—then where do you go from there? “Freeze” it? Try to go above and beyond? Or cut yourself some slack for having “over-achieved”?

It is better to break down complex, long-range goals into smaller goals, one at a time. That’s exactly how it’s done in the “Contract with Yourself” workshop module mentioned above; it makes each goal more attainable. In the case of writing a book, sample goals could be: “Do research on the ‘sandwich-message’ concept tomorrow”; “Make appointments to interview subject-matter experts next week.”

That way, you can calibrate and set the next goal accordingly. A more overseeable time span also helps make a goal specific and, therefore, determine whether it is relevant.

True SMART goals are timely in that you can see the contingency between time and action more clearly. Not only does that help establish good habits, it leads to measurable outcomes occurring with greater frequency, thereby providing more frequent reinforcement—another goal attained, building on the one attained before. Now how is that for “smart”!