how to get String array from String instance variable in ArrayList of object?

for example i have the following

Class Employee {
private String firstname;
private String lastname;
private int Salary;
/* getters and setters*/
}

I built an arrayList for this class and add some employees to it, as following:

ArrayList<Employee> employees = new ArrayList<Employee>();
for (int x=1; x<=10; x++){
  Employee e = new Employee();
  e.setFirstname("firstname"+ i);
  e.setLastname( "lastname"+ i);
  e.setSalary( i * 1000);
}

how to get all employees firstname as String array from employees ArrayList dinamically ? what I am asking is something like:

String employeesFirstname = employees.firstname;

can I get like this String array? or I have to build it manually?