Emailed manager multiple times in the first few weeks to discuss goals, measures of success (as per their onboarding material, important because I was bonus eligible) and heard nothing back. Instead, I "overheard" my manager tell a colleague to just " give me everything" and next thing I knew I was assigned many poorly articulated manual/tactical tasks with partially outlined procedures.
Based on the culture, interactions with colleagues/HR, and generally not being treated in a professional manner it was clear that this type of management style and work hand off was not an isolated or a rare incident but a top-down sanctioned method to try to get the most out of an employee as quick as possible. After receiving a performance review that was basically "they were helpful" and losing all motivation to go above and beyond in my role I was put on a PIP that was obviously designed to try to get the most out of me prior to being let go.
I was hoping that this role would be a long term positive one with opportunity to grow/succeed but it turned out to be yet another example of a company using unprofessional, manipulative, and unethical tactics to leverage as much tactical BS work out of you as they can before you figure out what the situation is.