These manager jobs are extremely difficult to get into because a company must trust their analyst wholeheartedly before accepting someone into that role. This is because there are many peoples' jobs at stake based on a success of the company as a whole and the analyst has a large part in this process. There is no single way to get one of these business analyst jobs, as you must gain trust within an organization, rather than applying for a job right out of school. The best way to go it to get a degree as a programmer, engineer, or computer science, as these degrees will give you the technical knowledge that is needed to succeed in many of these jobs. In other bases, a business degree will be better for this role, as you will need the proper analytical skills in order to make it to the top.
In many ways, a business analyst is similar to a project manager, except for it is likely that the analyst will have IT knowledge, especially since many jobs are now calling for these skills. There is now a Certified Business Analyst Professional course that can be taken, which can go a long way in getting an individual hired in one of these positions, so that might be worth looking into for some applicants. In addition, anyone who wishes to become an analyst in an insurance or telecommunication type of setting might want to look into acquiring additional writing and analytical skills. In these industries, it is common to see someone with a BA get these business analyst jobs, since the person will be working in a social setting, rather than a technical one.
Basically, there is no predefined role for a business analyst and this causes a great deal of confusion for anyone who is looking for information on this career. You must have experience in all areas of a company in order to succeed in this role, as you will be asked to perform many different tasks over the course of your employment. For this reason, many companies choose to hire someone from within the organization for these jobs, so the best way to go about getting started in this career is to gain entry level employment within a company that has potential employment for you in this industry.