Have you ever had a time when you didn’t realize you were holding your breath until you exhaled? I just had one of those times. I just finished a video interview for a new job. I knew I was nervous – this was only the third video interview I have done and the first for a paying job (the other two were for Toastmaster District roles) – but I didn’t realize until after how much I was sort of holding my breath or restrained breathing.

It went very well I think and now I have to wait until this round of interviews is over (next week) and find out if I am one of the 2-3 interviewees for the next round. That round will be with the CEO or CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of the company and probably HR, so that would be another nervous time. But for now, I am happy that I made it through and hopefully came off pretty competent.

I am an introvert and though I have expanded on my social interaction quite a bit – thanks to Toastmasters and other activities – I still get nervous meeting new people and especially in an interview situation. I must say that doing video interactions is much easier than phone interactions since I can see the people I am talking to and can pick up non-verbal cues.

I do some deep breathing exercises in anticipation of encounters like these and that really helps. I think most of us unless we have had musical training, don’t tend to breathe fully and it would do good for us to take some time for deep breathing. I know it helped me today.