Who should write a recommendation letter? When applying for a faculty position (from assistant to full professor), the search committee asks for 3 - 5 recommendation letters by people who know the applicant professionally (and probably in person).

The first factor for choosing a reference is his/her relationship with the applicant, but another important factor is the (academic) position of the writer. Possible references can be:


Past PhD student/post-doctoral fellow who is now an assistant professor: probably he is the best person to describe the
applicant's attitude towards students and education (something that
is critical for the search committee).
A faculty colleague: closely witnessed the applicant works, but not directly involved.
Department chair: supervised the applicant, but probably his view is just the standpoint of a boss.
Dean: had less connection with the applicant, but can provide a top view about the applicant.
Provost/Vice Presidents: very little direct connection, but can show the applicant's relationship with senior people.


The point is that how to balance the level of relationship and the reference's position? Normally, recommendation letters by people with higher positions are more reliable, and can be trusted search committee, as a colleague may bias the letter for a colleague, but a provost will not do this for an employee.

Is the position of a reference more important than his/her direct connection with the applicant (considering the fact that a senior person has no reason to write a recommendation letter for someone he does not know personally)?

UPDATE: Some commented that references should be not-related peers, not people who know the applicant. It seems I'm a little bit confused.


Do you list references who do not know you at the end of CV/resume? References named in the applicant CV can be contacted for a job application.
Some job ads ask the applicant to arrange submission of three letters of recommendation to the search committee (for example, see a job ad at UC Berkeley). Do you ask people who do not know you to submit a recommendation letter about you?
Nowadays, most job applications are via online systems. When the online system requests a recommendation letter just send an email to the named reference to submit his/her recommendation for Mr./Mrs. X (but will not attach his/her resume or works). How one who does not know the applicant can then submit a recommendation letter.
Your letters should come from experts in your field who are familiar with your work.  They should be written by professors who are substantially more senior than you are, and who will be known to the people reading your applications.

A typical situation for someone applying for a first job out of graduate school would be one letter from your advisor, one letter from someone else in your dept. who is also an expert in your field, and one letter from an expert at a different school who saw you speak in a seminar or at a conference and who has read your papers.  It is not necessary, at the new-graduate level, to have had more substantial interactions with outside letter writers than their having seen you talk and read your papers.  If you can get two good outside letter writers, then do that instead, but in my experience it's common to have only one outside letter writer at this stage.  At least two of these people should be at the associate or full professor level, and all should have excellent tenure-track jobs.  For someone a few years out of Ph.D. one would expect, in addition to the Ph.D. advisor and postdoc advisor, letters from well-known experts in the field who have interacted more substantially with the applicant.