I was told by a friend (who has some limited experience recruiting) that having a local address improves one's chances.
Her reasoning was that the HR person looking at the 100s of resumes is looking for excuses to toss out as many resumes as possible. And applicants who live nearby are more desirable because of such reasons as:
The recruiters in the company will feel bad if you fly a few hours over for interviews and they have to reject you.
If you live nearby they feel that they can easily get in touch with you any time.
The above reasons are apparently true even if you vigorously state on your application that you are happy to relocate to where the company is.
Her advice was thus that I should put a local address on my CV when applying for jobs. One way to do this would be to use an address of a friend who lives in the city where the company is located.
So my question is: Does having a local address indeed increase one's chances?
(I am thinking specifically of the USA - I now live in Michigan but am looking at jobs, many of which are in the Bay Area. But more general answers are also welcome.)