Which approach should a company use to verify that its entry-level salaries are competitive in the local geographic market?

Job-ranking is a method that involves ordering jobs based on their perceived value or importance within the organization. While it can help in establishing internal equity, it does not provide insights into external salary competitiveness and therefore falls short for assessing market rates for entry-level positions.

Factor comparison involves evaluating jobs based on specific compensable factors such as skills, responsibilities, and working conditions. Although this method offers a structured way to analyze internal job worth, it does not directly compare salaries against external market data, making it insufficient for verifying competitiveness in the local job market.

Point-factor systems assign point values to various job factors to determine job worth within the organization. This approach is useful for establishing internal pay structures but lacks the necessary external perspective needed to compare entry-level salaries with those of competing employers in the local market.