I would be wary of the instructional route. There are fewer and fewer employers who value your skills at instructing someone to fly a c152. In days gone by there was a clear and defined career path to the RHS of a TP or if you were incredibly lucky a jet once you had 1000 hours or so of circuit bashing. Now its not necessarily the case. As always there will be exceptions to the rule.
I think the main benefit instructing can give you is potential contacts. But this of course would only be true of the FTO's that were based at "biggish" airfields and those which have relationships with airlines/operators. Unfortunately most FTO's do not and although the promises of loads of hours and getting to instruct on the trusty club twin lures many a wannabee to teach, it can be a graveyard of false hope. There are many cases of instructors getting paid feable amounts and a pitiful 300 hours pa under their belts whilst relocating at their own expense to some far corner of the country with its own micro weather system which invariably includes heavy rainfall. In these cases you would be no better off than a wannabee who continues working earning a crust and keeps the hours ticking over through joining a group/hiring from a club/trips to the US or a combination of all of these.