“Ideally, I'd like to be responsible for managing a small team of my own.”

You're interviewing for a job. The interviewer asks you what you'd like to be doing in 5 years. You answer:

Ideally, I'd like to be responsible for managing a small team of my own.

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“Well, I'm currently employed as an account manager at a charter airline.”

At a job interview, you've been asked to introduce yourself. You want to start by telling the interviewer about the job you have now. You want to sound professional. You say:

Well, I'm currently employed as an account manager at a charter airline.

Well,

People use "Well," at the beginning of a sentence when answering a question. It shows that you're thinking about your answer. There are other reasons for using "well". You can use it when you're unsure of what you're going to say. You make the word longer and pause before your next word when you're not sure. When you are sure but just want to show that you're thinking about your answer, say "well" quickly and then continue with your answer directly.

currently (doing something)

"Currently" means "now" but sounds a lot more formal and professional. It's used in a lot of business situations. For example, you can use it on your voice mail message at work:

Hi, you've reached Aaron. I'm currently unavailable, but please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

In the example at top, the speaker says that he is "currently employed as..." That means that he has a job right now. In the U.S., it's common to apply for a new job and go on interviews while you're still at your previous job.

(be) employed as a (job title) at (a company)

To "be employed" means that you have a job. To express what your job is in a formal way, use the phrase "employed as ___":

Sylvia is employed as a financial analyst at a major bank.

I was previously employed as a digital marketing manager.

And to express where you work, use "at ___". You can say the type of company that you work for, or the name of the company:

He is employed as an engineer at Cisco.

Remember that this is quite a formal way to express your job title. In normal conversation, just say:

Sylvia is a financial analyst at a bank.

a charter airline

A "charter airline" is a company that you can book private airplane flights with. Other related phrases you might hear include:

• A "charter jet" is an airplane that you can rent from a charter airline.
• To "charter a flight" means to schedule a flight on a charter jet.

“Prior to that, I spent two years as an administrative assistant at a recruiting agency.”

You're in a job interview. You're describing your work history. You started by explaining your current job, and now you want to explain the job you had before that one. You say:

Prior to that, I spent two years as an administrative assistant at a recruiting agency.

prior to (something)

"Prior to" means "before". But it sounds more formal. People use "prior to" in business situations, in a courtroom, and so on. There are some other differences between "prior to" and "before as well. You can say:

Before you go, can you take a quick look at this email I'm sending to Tracy?

But you can't replace "before" with "prior to" in that sentence. You have to follow "prior to" with a noun:

Please call to confirm your flight details prior to departure.

"Prior to departure" means "before you leave". The phrase "prior to ___" can also include a verb with the "-ing" ending:

Prior to meeting Vick, I had never even seen an opera, much less known an actual opera performer.

spend (time) as

You use the word "spend" with an amount of time because we think of time as being very valuable, just like money. To "spend time ___ing" means to use your time to do it:

We spent the first month just debating what to call ourselves.

People use the phrase "spend (time) as ___" to express how long they did a certain job for. You use this phrase when you're describing your past jobs, but usually not to describe your current job.

administrative assistant

An "administrative assistant" used to be called a "secretary". In recent years, the word "secretary" isn't used much because it seems old-fashioned and sexist (meaning that it seems disrespectful to women). An administrative assistant helps busy and important people in a company to schedule their meetings, send letters and packages, and other things.

a recruiting agency

A "recruiting agency" is a company that finds employees for other companies. If you need to find a certain kind of employee, but it takes too long to find people like that, you can hire a recruiter to find the right person for the job. Recruiters will often call people who are already working at other companies, and will try to convince those people to change their jobs. There's also another word for recruiting agents. People call them "headhunters". "Headhunter" is also a word to describe members of native tribes in places like South America who kill their enemies and take their heads. So, as you might expect, the word "headhunter" is not a very positive way to refer to a recruiter!

“If I HAD to pick something, I'd say it's that I have trouble saying 'no' to people's requests.”

You're at a job interview and have been asked to described one of your weaknesses. You have to answer, but you want your answer to make you sound impressive. You want it to sound like this weakness is not really a problem. So you say:

If I HAD to pick something, I'd say it's that I have trouble saying "no" to people's requests.

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“Well, I can be a bit assertive at times.”

You're in a job interview for a managerial role. The interviewer asks you to describe one of your weaknesses. You want to talk about a flaw you have that could also be seen as a strength. You answer:

Well, I can be a bit assertive at times.

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