Not all graduating students can say they have a job lined up right after college — one who can is University of Iowa senior Adrian Slade.

He will graduate at the end of this semester after only three and a half years, with a degree in economics. He starts his new job at C.H. Robinson — a third-party logistics provider — the day after Christmas. He will oversee the creation of contracts and ensuring the shipment of products.

“[It’s] something that allowed me to combine everything I was studying but also something a little outside my comfort level,” he said.

Slade said C. H. Robinson was very persistent in pursuing him as a future employee.

“They asked me on a scale of 1 to 10 how interested I was in the job, and when I said a 7 or an 8, they said, ‘What can we do to make that 10?’ ” he said.

Slade, a native of Dubuque, is glad to have job security going into graduation because a lot of students are afraid about getting jobs after graduation. He encourages student not to give up and not to be too picky.

“Something I had to realize pretty early on is you rarely get your dream job right out of college,” he said. “The people who tend to be go the longest without jobs are the people who tend to be the pickiest.”

Matt Messerli, a supervisor at C.H. Robinson who was part of process of hiring Slade, said he’s optimistic about Slade’s abilities and the contribution he will make to the company.

“His presence when he was in the office interacting with our team, that was something that caught our attention,” he said. “From our team standpoint, we’re growing. We’re looking to grow again in 2013, and we think that Adrian can be a big part of that growth looking forward.”

During Slade’s time at the UI, he was involved in several organizations that helped him practice his marketing skills, including being the marketing director of the Campus Activities Board and working with Student Life Marketing and Design.

“Some of his current experiences will help him with what we do on a daily basis,” Messerli said.

Nancy Abram, the director of Student Life Marketing and Design, said Slade learned things in her department that will benefit him as he moves on.

“Every experience we have, we learn something and we gain additional skills,” she said. “We try to train them and give them real-life experiences as much as possible so they have some skills when they try to get a real job. And watching them leave is part of it. Many students have left these offices and been tremendously successful.”

Preparing now to leave the UI, Slade said he can look back on all the UI has taught him.

“Before college I thought of myself as a very independent person, but after coming to the University of Iowa you learn a whole new skill set,” he said. “The University of Iowa basically just taught me so much about myself, more about who I wanted to be, what I wanted to be and it also gave the tools to expand myself socially as well as academically. I feel like the University of Iowa helped me surprise myself as far as what I could do and what I could motivate myself to accomplish.”