Associate Research Report/Interview - What to do?

Hi All,

Quick background - I'm a third year auditor at a big 4 in the Northeast. I went to a midwest state school w/ little/no finance (ER/IB) recruiting out of undergrad (much more out of MBA) but tons of accounting, hence the choice. I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but want to give everyone a complete picture.

I'm trying to make the switch to equity research - obviously uphill battle - but I'm determined. There's a new position at a well known and very well regarded investment management firm in my city for an associate role with little/no required experience, and I'm 100% dedicated to getting a spot. Part of the application is a 4 page or less piece of research. I'm comfortable modeling and writing a research piece. My question is on what subject to write about. I write for seeking alpha as a hobby (I have a couple editor's picks and a couple selected for SA Pro), and for the past few years I've focused almost exclusively on early/mid stage biotech companies. I'm not a science major, but enjoy learning and have an interest in the field. I've received good feedback from folks in industry as to my writing style and content.

I have a couple companies I could write about, the problem is that I'm concerned that for the purposes of an associate interview selection, having a pretty heavily scientific piece along w/ probably a pretty simple model (neither company have any approved drugs yet, and as such these models tend to not be overly complicated) could either completely ding me as being too obscure or impress them with writing well about a topic outside of my professional comfort zone - but the point is the risk.

I also have some experienced with banks and mining, but it's more limited. I have just over a month so it wouldn't be a huge task for me to learn enough of a different industry to write a decent report. Besides probably tech, banking, and biotech/drug dev, most other industries work along the same lines (make x widgets/supply x service for x price), and it may be a safer bet making a thorough dive into some company with limited analyst coverage. Would appreciate opinions on which way to go.

As a couple side notes, I would appreciate critique of my resume: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/big-4-audit-to-equity-research-tr… and if anyone would be willing to be an awesome guy/gal and provide some private guidance - If you happen to be in the same city or visiting - I'd buy dinner/drinks for a couple hours of your time over the next few weeks (basically offer questions/critique to my research and perhaps answer a few questions as they pop up). Feel free to PM me for my details (city, company, etc).

Thanks!