diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/lists/PortalJobs.js b/awx/ui/client/src/lists/PortalJobs.js
index 49ca8a3ec2..f92497e7a4 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/lists/PortalJobs.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/lists/PortalJobs.js
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ export default
                 searchable: false,
                 filter: "longDate",
                 key: true,
+                desc: true,
                 columnClass: "col-lg-4 col-md-4 col-sm-3"
             }
         },
diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/portal-mode/portal-mode-jobs.controller.js b/awx/ui/client/src/portal-mode/portal-mode-jobs.controller.js
index 3334a23940..f6bd8ff9df 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/portal-mode/portal-mode-jobs.controller.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/portal-mode/portal-mode-jobs.controller.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 export function PortalModeJobsController($scope, $rootScope, GetBasePath, GenerateList, PortalJobsList, SearchInit,
     PaginateInit){
 
-    var list = _.cloneDeep(PortalJobsList),
+    var list =  _.cloneDeep(PortalJobsList),
     view = GenerateList,
     // show user jobs by default
     defaultUrl = GetBasePath('jobs') + '?created_by=' + $rootScope.current_user.id,
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ export function PortalModeJobsController($scope, $rootScope, GetBasePath, Genera
     $scope.iterator = list.iterator;
     $scope.activeFilter = 'user';
 
-    var init = function(sort){
+    var init = function(url){
+        defaultUrl = url ? url : defaultUrl;
         // We need to explicitly set the lists base path so that tag searching will keep the '?created_by'
         // query param when it's present.  If we don't do this, then tag search will just grab the base
         // path for this list (/api/v1/jobs) and lose the created_by filter
@@ -49,31 +50,26 @@ export function PortalModeJobsController($scope, $rootScope, GetBasePath, Genera
             url: defaultUrl,
             pageSize: pageSize
         });
-        $scope.search (list.iterator);
-        if(sort) {
-            // hack to default to descending sort order
-            $scope.sort('job','finished');
-        }
-
+        $scope.search(list.iterator);
     };
 
     $scope.filterUser = function(){
         $scope.activeFilter = 'user';
         defaultUrl = GetBasePath('jobs') + '?created_by=' + $rootScope.current_user.id;
-        init(true);
+        init(defaultUrl);
     };
 
     $scope.filterAll = function(){
         $scope.activeFilter = 'all';
         defaultUrl = GetBasePath('jobs');
-        init(true);
+        init(defaultUrl);
     };
 
     $scope.refresh = function(){
         $scope.search(list.iterator);
     };
 
-    init(true);
+    init();
 }
 
 PortalModeJobsController.$inject = ['$scope', '$rootScope', 'GetBasePath', 'generateList', 'PortalJobsList', 'SearchInit',