Have you levelled off at 1 altitude before the next climb clearance? If not, and you are in VNAV and can select the next alt/FL before ALT ACQ then stay in VNAV. If you are step climbing then V/S 1000' is better. Remember, that in congested airspace such as a TMA, is a requirement/airmanship/RA avoidance etc. etc. to limit V/S 1000fpm within 1000' of level off. I'm not sure how VNAV helps in 'traffic speration'. 1000fpm will more than achieve that.
As an aside: in B733 we used to use V/S 1000 for step climbs to avoid large thrust inputs, abrupt change in noise/cabin angles/change in g's etc. The CP found out about it and frowned. This was before Eurocontrol made it a recommendation/reuiqrement. It had been like that in FAA land for decades. On B767 (90's) it was even in the customer option PIC autopilot package; small changes in level did not cause full power.
They programmed the autopilot to think like a pilot. Now there's a novelty.
I've always wondered why (if I remember correctly), when the FAA had an SOP for 1000fpm at 1000' to go and 500fpm at 500' to go, the FAA certified autopilots kept outrageous V/S until even 300' to go. Surely they could program VNAV to do just that? Now we have to go VNAV - V/S - (ALT ACQ - ALT HLD) - VNAV. If you can program VNAV on departure to keep a speed up to an acceleration altitude for noise abate, and then climb 250/100 and then econ to CRZFL, why can't you program a VNAV(V/S) at 1000 to go? I'm not saying I want to computer-out the PF, but the use of V/S 1000 is not a universal SOP and it is a manual necessity. At high V/S you can already be ALT ACQ before 1000 to go. Too late.