The best thing you can do is (like you said) get that CFI, CFII, MEI, and instruct your ass off! I haven't been to an interview yet that didn't respect the hell out of at least a few years of instructing and good instructing references! Every interview I've been to involved a few CFI stories and I have gotten the job after EVERY interview I've had. Getting lucky and networking have NEVER worked for me as I'm not a social butterfly with connections. I'm NOT following in daddy's footsteps. Many pilots are analytical, numbers and logic, left brained people! However, chances are your chief instructor has those connections and loves flying enough to have been to the jets, maybe even in war, flown with hundreds of other pilots, been all over the world, made 6 figures, and retired to instruct again. That's love, brother! That chief instructor will see you paying your dues every day in the freezing cold, in the humid, broiling heat, and being a counselor, mentor, cheerleader, and tutor to those struggling students, even the ones that "just tried to kill you". They'll know that flying means more than a paycheck and status to you and they'll step forward for you wherever you go! Most interview panels will have an ex chief instructor. As far as swinging gear, in my experience, captains will take turns as PF/PNF. FOs just "swinging gear" and reading checklists is a bygone/dying practice in the US. Nothing, not networking, not daddy, will prepare you better than not only mastering the basics, but having TAUGHT them, not only as far as skill, but also in terms of the RESPECT you will get from EVERY interview panel. If you love flying, flying will love you back.