Calling a function within Entity Framework Select

A property from my object (oJobs) is as follows:

    Private _brandlist As List(Of DAL.Brand)
    Public Property PostBrandList() As List(Of DAL.Brand)
        Get
            Return _brandlist
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As List(Of DAL.Brand))
            _brandlist = value
        End Set
    End Property

In the database, the brand list is stored as a string separated by comma e.g. the column 'brands' can be a string '3,45,2' where each number represents an id of a brand stored in another table.

my select query is as below:

Dim jobposts As List(Of oJobs) = From j In db.JobPostings
Select New oJobs With {                                                                  'hiding all others for code brevity
    .PostBrandList = 'problem is here'
}

Since j.BrandList will return a string, I will need to split that string and for each number, run another query to finally return and assign a List(Of DAL.Brand) into .PostBrandList

For those who might ask "what have you tried?",

• I have run the query, then did a for each to add the list of brands later - succeeded but not optimal
• Coded a function that takes the list as a parameter and returns a separate list of objects - very silly.

Also, I am not allowed to normalize the DB :(