Charanya Somasundaram is a career counsellor and founder of eQuadrat Consulting Services, who believes good careers aren't chosen once — they're built one clear decision at a time. Careers don't have to be linear. No single choice needs to define a person's entire professional life. What matters most is building the self-awareness to keep making good decisions, at every stage
This belief comes from her own path. Charanya began her career in 2001, moving through senior roles in banking operations and IT services. In 2010, she founded eQuadrat Consulting Services, a recruitment and HR firm — putting her on the other side of the hiring table. That experience, combined with a Master's in Financial Management, gave her a practical, ground-level view of what different careers actually demand.
Read MoreCareer counselling grew directly out of this work, not apart from it. Years spent working closely with organisations and candidates gave Charanya a practical, up-close view of how varied and fast-changing today's professional landscape truly is — and how often desire, interest and strength go unweighed against what a career can realistically offer in return. That understanding became the DISO Framework, which now extends through eQuadrat into student-focused counselling — working closely with students and parents during grade 8 through 12, when the first real career decisions are made. The aim isn't a perfect choice, but a well-grounded one: professional experience, attentive listening and a clear-eyed read of the career landscape, brought together so students can move forward with room to grow.
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More options should make choosing easier. In practice, they often make it harder — especially when students are expected to decide before they've had the time or experience to understand what those choices actually involve. Career counselling creates space to approach these decisions with a clearer sense of direction, shaped by who the student actually is.
Every student brings a different combination of strengths, interests, abilities and aspirations. Understanding this — alongside what different fields truly involve and where they're headed — is the starting point for a suitable career choice. Career decisions tend to go off track in one of two ways: either the student doesn't yet have a clear picture of their own profile or they're being guided by outside pressure — peer choices, popular trends or assumptions formed without enough information
Career counselling helps students build this self-understanding, guided by conversation rather than a checklist. Applying the DISO Framework — weighing desire, interest, strengths and opportunity together, rather than one at a time — helps set goals that are realistic and grounded in an accurate picture of the academic pathways connected to them.
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At eQuadrat Consulting Services, career counselling starts with real self-understanding — helping students see their own strengths and interests clearly before making important educational decisions. Through personalised guidance and focused assessments, students gain the clarity to explore academic and career pathways that fit who they are right now, while staying open to where their path may lead.
A first, considered step that applies the DISO Framework alongside a student's academic background, helping build the self-awareness needed before exploring specific pathways — not to arrive at one right answer, but a starting point solid enough to build on. For grades 8–10, this centres on identifying the most suitable stream; for grades 11–12, it centres on identifying a suitable career direction and college major.
One-on-one conversations for students and parents to discuss educational choices, concerns and aspirations — grounded in patient listening and fact-based discussion rather than quick advice. No formal testing is included.
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