title: Linq to Entities method: Select and ToListAsync
body: <p>I want to retrieve only a few columns in the query. I want to achieve this query using entity framework:</p>
  
  <pre><code>select FirstName from Employee
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, I am not able to use <strong>Select</strong> and <strong>ToListAsync</strong> at the same time. I am getting an error and it looks like I can't use both at the same time.
  Is there any other way to do this?</p>
  
  <pre><code>[HttpGet]
  public async Task&lt;ActionResult&lt;IEnumerable&lt;Employee&gt;&gt;&gt; GetEmployee()
  {
       return await _context.Employee.Select(s =&gt; s.FirstName).ToListAsync();
  }
  </code></pre>