Is 'increased' a weak resume word?

Not when a number follows it. 'Increased renewals from 80% to 92%' is a strong bullet. It becomes weak when used without a figure or repeated across many bullets. Keep it for a couple of results and vary the rest with grew, boosted, expanded or generated.

Should I use percentages or raw numbers for increases?

Use whichever is more impressive and easier to verify, and include the baseline when you can. A 200% increase from a tiny base can sound inflated, so '$50K to $150K' may read better. For rates such as conversion or retention, show both before and after values rather than only the percentage change.

How often do job postings use "increased"?

"Increased" (counting "increase", "increases", "increased" or "increasing") appears in 11.9% of the 2,902 full-text S&P 500 job postings we analyzed. It is most common in Sales postings (32.9%) and least common in HR & people postings (3.6%), among role families with at least 40 postings.

Which alternative to "increased" do employers use most?

Of the 11 alternatives on this page, "grew" appears in the most postings (53.9%). For the recommended picks: "grew" 53.9%, "boosted" 0.3%, "expanded" 16.7%, "generated" 5.7%. A word being common in postings means recruiters will recognize it, but the best choice is still the one that matches the posting in front of you and what you actually did.

Original data · 2,902 full-text S&P 500 job postings

Another Word for "Increased" on a Resume: 11 Stronger Verbs

"Increased" is a fine verb when a number follows it; it is the standard way to show growth. It reads weak when the bullet has no figure, or when every result on the page starts with it. Alternatives let you show the size and character of the growth without repeating yourself.

11 alternatives to "increased", by what you mean

Pick the group that matches what you did, then the word that fits. "Postings" is the share of the 2,902 full-text job descriptions that use the word in any form. Example bullets are illustrative, not taken from real resumes.

Word	Postings	Example bullet
You grew revenue or volumeUse for sales, bookings and business growth.
grew	53.9%	Grew territory revenue from $1.8M to $2.6M in 18 months.
generated	5.7%	Generated $450K in new pipeline through a partner webinar series.
expanded	16.7%	Expanded the client base from 40 to 65 accounts without adding headcount.
You lifted a rate or scoreUse for conversion, engagement and satisfaction metrics.
boosted	0.3%	Boosted landing-page conversion from 2.1% to 3.4% through headline testing.
raised	3.3%	Raised on-time delivery from 88% to 97% by re-sequencing pick lists.
lifted	0%	Lifted average order value 12% with a bundled-accessories offer.
improved	27.6%	Improved trial-to-paid conversion 5 points by redesigning the day-3 email.
You achieved dramatic growthUse only when the jump was genuinely large.
doubled	0.1%	Doubled monthly active users to 30,000 within a year of the relaunch.
tripled	0%	Tripled newsletter subscribers in 9 months through a referral incentive.
accelerated	11.1%	Accelerated quarterly bookings growth from 4% to 11% after restructuring territories.
scaled	7.5%	Scaled the support operation from 2,000 to 9,000 tickets a month at steady CSAT.

For comparison, "increased" itself: 11.9% (346 of 2,902 postings).

Before and after: rewriting "increased" bullets

Three example rewrites. They are illustrative, with made-up numbers, to show the pattern: a specific verb, what you acted on, and the result.

BeforeIncreased sales.

AfterGrew regional sales 34% year over year by opening 2 new distributor channels.

Adds the number and the cause.

BeforeIncreased engagement on social media.

AfterBoosted Instagram engagement rate from 1.2% to 3.8% with a weekly short-video series.

Names the platform, metric and tactic.

BeforeIncreased the number of clients.

AfterExpanded the active client roster from 22 to 41 within one fiscal year.

Before-and-after figures show scale.

Which alternatives each role family uses

"Increased" is most common in Sales postings (32.9%) and least common in HR & people postings (3.6%). The right-hand column shows the three alternatives from this page that appear most often in each family's postings. Only families with at least 40 full-text postings are shown.

Role family	"increased"	Most-used alternatives
Engineering628 postings	10.8%	grew (62.7%), improved (41.6%), accelerated (18.9%)
Sales368 postings	32.9%	grew (87%), expanded (54.6%), improved (23.9%)
Retail & service133 postings	30.8%	grew (44.4%), expanded (31.6%), improved (23.3%)
Operations109 postings	4.6%	grew (51.4%), improved (35.8%), expanded (21.1%)
Data & science101 postings	5.9%	grew (69.3%), improved (26.7%), expanded (9.9%)
Finance85 postings	21.2%	grew (51.8%), improved (51.8%), scaled (7.1%)
Marketing84 postings	4.8%	grew (57.1%), improved (25%), accelerated (17.9%)
Product72 postings	8.3%	grew (75%), improved (36.1%), scaled (29.2%)
HR & people56 postings	3.6%	grew (67.9%), improved (53.6%), scaled (21.4%)

How to pick the right word: mirror the posting

Sales and marketing postings tend to describe goals as "drive growth" or "grow revenue," so "grew" or "drove" often mirrors them better than "increased." If the posting names a specific metric (pipeline, retention, conversion), use that exact term right after your verb. Reserve "doubled" or "tripled" for cases where the math is true, since interviewers will ask.

Applicant tracking systems and recruiters search for the posting's own words, so the safest synonym is the one the job description already uses. Paste the posting into the free resume keyword generator to pull out its verbs and skills, then use the table above to replace the "increased" bullets that the posting does not ask for. For a wider list by category, see our resume action verbs guide; the dataset behind these numbers is described in our S&P 500 ATS study.

Frequently asked questions

Is 'increased' a weak resume word?: Not when a number follows it. 'Increased renewals from 80% to 92%' is a strong bullet. It becomes weak when used without a figure or repeated across many bullets. Keep it for a couple of results and vary the rest with grew, boosted, expanded or generated.
Should I use percentages or raw numbers for increases?: Use whichever is more impressive and easier to verify, and include the baseline when you can. A 200% increase from a tiny base can sound inflated, so '$50K to $150K' may read better. For rates such as conversion or retention, show both before and after values rather than only the percentage change.
How often do job postings use "increased"?: "Increased" (counting "increase", "increases", "increased" or "increasing") appears in 11.9% of the 2,902 full-text S&P 500 job postings we analyzed. It is most common in Sales postings (32.9%) and least common in HR & people postings (3.6%), among role families with at least 40 postings.
Which alternative to "increased" do employers use most?: Of the 11 alternatives on this page, "grew" appears in the most postings (53.9%). For the recommended picks: "grew" 53.9%, "boosted" 0.3%, "expanded" 16.7%, "generated" 5.7%. A word being common in postings means recruiters will recognize it, but the best choice is still the one that matches the posting in front of you and what you actually did.

Related synonyms

Another word for improved Another word for achieved Another word for drove Another word for enhanced Another word for reduced All resume synonyms

Method. Share of 2,902 full-text job postings from S&P 500 careers sites, collected June 2026 (ATS Resume AI study). A posting counts once if any form of the word appears anywhere in its text (for "increased": increase, increases, increased, increasing). Equal-opportunity and legal boilerplate is removed first; where a word's noun sense would swamp the verb (for example "process" or "program"), only verb forms are counted. Role families with fewer than 40 postings are not reported. Data generated: 2026-10-29.