There are definitely four peaks times of doctor's medical careers which correspond with the most popular times to work in Australia an New Zealand: 

1. SHO (Junior resident) years 

2. Registrar/ Senior Registrar years 

3. Junior Consultant years 

4. Pre-retirement Consultant years 

1. SHO (Junior resident) years 

Working in Australasia in your SHO years allows you to gain experience in a different environment an within a different healthcare system at an earlier stage of you medical career where you may or may not have decided what your final career path will be. Advantages of this early movement will be that you if your long term goal is a permanent move to Australia, you will be in a position to commence a specialist training programme from scratch without having to obtain lots of paperwork in an effort to accredit training completed in another country. Disadvantages of this are that as you are relatively inexperienced, your demand in terms of job options may be limited to less central or less prestigious hospitals. This is not always the case and there are stories of junior overseas trained doctors securing central teaching hospital posts. Other disadvantages are that many hospitals may not pay for your relocation expenses as there are many very junior doctors applying - whereas doctors with more experience are more sought after.

2. Registrar/ Senior Registrar years 

In your registrar years, when you already have some specialty specific experience, the demand for your services increases significantly especially if you have training in Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, ICU, Obstetrics or Medicine. These are the specialties in demand at middle-grader level and doctors with these skills can usually have several options for where to work. Advantage of going at his time of your career are that your experience in Australasia may count towards your training programme back home so no time is lost and that you are likely to be treated really well when you go overseas as you are providing specialty skills that are in demand. Disadvantages are that you may end up taking a position which is too junior or senior for your actual level. It is not unknown for junior registrars to be the most senior doctor in an Australasian department - especially if working in a very rural setting. Alternatively, some senior registrars who are used to working independently in the UK or North America may find they are over-supervised in Australasia.

3. Junior Consultant years 

This is an excellent time to work in Australasia as you have newly acquired your specialist qualifications and also can go straight to the top in Australasia. Advantages are that your salary and status will almost certainly be higher than what it was in the UK or North America and that you get to experience consultant life in Australasia and learn about their system without having to slum it through as a registrar/ SHO. Disadvantages are that to get recognition as a specialist may take time (often up to 6 months) and a lot of paperwork and to prove that you are genuinely eligible for consultant status in Australasia.

4. Pre-retirement Consultant years 

A popular time for a sabbatical or pre-retirement working holiday. Australasia has some of the most popular retirement and holiday destinations in the world. Working a couple f years before hanging up the stethoscope is a popular option because of the availability of stress-free public hospital jobs without any hassles of running your private practice and also the idyllic surroundings. Advantages are that it is usually easy to get recognition as a specialist because you have heaps of experience at consultant level. Disadvantages are that you still have to provide the same paperwork to prove to the specialist colleges and medical boards that you are at specialist level.