An oil company in Houston, Texas is hiring a geologist. The company interviewed 16 candidates. After the interviews, they ranked the top 5 candidates from first to 5th. How many lists can be formed?

Only one. They ranked the candidates, and listed them. One list.

Now, if it was done randomly, with no ranking evaluation...

Number lists:
16*15*14*13*12

but what would be the point of interviewing, then ranking randomly?