"Real Job" ? Are you suggesting this isn't a real job? Ok I know I you are paying them initially, but to be fair they are going to let you "work" on their airplane, so it must be a "real" job? They still let you work even though you stop paying them, so still a job. Then they "guarantee" to pay you a salary of still vague quantity, so most definetaly a real job.
If you are unhappy with this arrangement you can always jump ship to where? Not "my company" matey as I have adopted the same practice in order to stay competitive and my low experienced pilots are happy to pay me and then work for free. You can always try down the road, unless they too have decided they need to remain competitive with me and them and so on and so on.
This is what happened 20 years ago with bonding. One company decided it was a money saver and before you know it, most everybody else had decided on the same thing. Now it is almost impossible to find a company that doesn't bond in one form or another. Lately it is paying for your own type rating. Next, it seems you pay for your line training. Then you work for nothing for 18 months...24 months.....36 months?
That is why I say do it. Get in before the pyramid crumbles. The problem is that 2 years down the road there may be even less demand for 1000 hour First officers (who aren't prepared to pay us, or work for free), than there is now.